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0 pointspositron264mo ago0 comments

> looks like the left wing was damaged by the fire

The wings and aerodynamics don't really care if air or air with combustion are flowing around them.

Roll is a consequence of the loss of control due to low speed and the yaw of the good engines. Speed up, rudder works, plane might maintain positive climb.

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loeg4mo ago

> The wings and aerodynamics don't really care if air or air with combustion are flowing around them.

Not saying it's what happened here, but if the heat is intense enough to deform the wing / control surfaces, it matters.

positron26OP4mo ago

For skin, a few seconds might be significant. For the spars, not nearly enough time to matter. It's also not at cruise speed slamming into a downdraft or anything. This is about a 1G loading. Negligible for a while. While the fire looks cool, there's a lot of free stream mixing in and the temps won't really get that high beyond the cowling.

SAI_Peregrinus4mo ago

More likely is the hydraulics on that side burst, leading to a loss of pressure keeping the control surfaces deployed. If that lead to the leading-edge slats retracting (like they did in AA 191) you'd get a massive loss of lift on that side. The structural parts of the wing didn't have time to melt, but the fire certainly could damage all the internal control materials.

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