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Comment Re:Fuel or electrical? (Score 1) 104

I am pretty sure that 25 litres of Avgas would go un-noticed, but 250 litres would probably cause the results we saw.

I don't think anyone is suggesting it was 100% Avgas. Just that a fuelling tanker had been accidentally part loaded with the wrong stuff, and no one admitted the error.

There are numerous other substances that might have contaminated they fuel and restricted flow - possibly metal objects where they shouldn't have been, oily rags, etc.

I think it will turn out to be fuel related in some way, and the contamination was shifted by roll-out - so likely denser than JetA and not dissolved, which Avgas would be.

We need to hear what the investigation finds. and not rely on speculation by passers-by.

Comment The invention of the automatic transmission ... (Score 1) 177

... did not make thermodynamics redundant.

Some people need to know how to get from basic physics to AI - and that is what Universities are there for.

Others need to know to explain what they want - whether to AI or to their mates. That is what friends and families are for. Or, failing that Schools, and failing that, Google. (Arrgh).

Comment Re:Windows 11 Bluetooth is Still Trash (Score 1) 52

Unfortunately, Samsung have decided that only developers can transfer files to/from their phone over USB! There are reasons why people prefer Huawei - and usability is one!

The persistent redesigning the UI just when you have finally figures out where the last change put the things you need daily is another.

If Google designed cars the brake pedal would go somewhere else every three months!

Comment Re:No shit (Score 2) 147

Anyone who's ever operated a motor vehicle could have, did, and has been saying this for the past decade-plus since these things have proliferated.

Zillions of us have been saying it, but since we buy second hand cars because we don't want this crap, the manufacturers are not listening to us.

They are surprised that new car sales are collapsing just because no-one wants the junk they are selling.

The sales people said "people value newness in a new car". That is probably even true of the gullible people that car salesmen get to talk to.

The design team should, like everyone else, be told "Never trust a car salesman".
Not even as far as you can throw him.

Comment 22,000 destination ports of a single IP address? (Score 2) 41

How many of those ports were open?

Most of my sites have a Honey Trap - if you access it you get the output of a random number generator formatted as an x86 core dump. Any human would close the connection immediately. Robots would quite likely think they have a database of trove and fill their H/Ds with garbage.

However, having read yesterday's news, I intend to make my next one format the data as a database of logins.

You are encouraged to steal that idea and do it for me!

Comment Re:Another video going around... (Score 2) 108

The whole of Slashdot is pretty pointless, even.

It is not like Boeing of the NTSB are going to come here to get the facts!

However, it occupies our minds when we have better things to do - which is important for nerds as a form of relaxation.

If you are not a nerd, you are probably on the wrong website. Try Twitter!

Comment Re:RAt and most likely APU as well (Score 1) 108

Although the fuel pumps are redundant - there are six - during take-off, all fuel is drawn from a single belly tank!!!

Fuel contamination is thus a very likely cause of loss of power in both engines.

Water in the fuel can come from condensation as (during a previous flight) the plane's tanks fill with air as fuel is burned, and this air will likely be very humid if the decent goes through clouds.

The water would sit in sumps in the tanks which should be drained. My guess is that rotation could have caused this water to get out of the sumps, and into the pump lines.

This type of pollution might have been entirely consumed quite quickly, and the engines begun to resume power causing a slight surge in the final seconds, which some observers claim to have noticed - including the sole survivor.

Alternatively, on refuelling, tankers could have been used which had a small amount of a different type of fuel (gasolene or kerosene) - which could have dissolved in jet fuel, and would have burned but producing significantly less power.

The fact that, on crashing, there was a huge fireball, needs to be investigated. If the engines had had a flameout, it is unlikely that jet fuel would have gone up like that - it is essentially Diesel, and you need a blowtorch (or engines still running) to light it. Fire would likely occur, but an instant fireball like we saw is less likely. If there was even a small amount of gasolene present, a fireball is certain.

Either way, the data recording black box will reveal all.

I assume the idea of feeding both engines from the same tank during take-off was the work of Baldrick.

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