Know Your Systems
I read with great interest the ASW cover story for December 2011–January 2012 when I saw the photograph caption, “This aircraft struck terrain while departing with the flaps and slats retracted.” I thought to myself in disbelief, “What? No takeoff warning? Again?”
Dishearteningly, I believe that from a maintenance perspective at least, this was a preventable accident. Had the technicians and the flight crew better analyzed and understood the problem of the ram air temperature (RAT) probe overheating and realized the implications of the probe being heated on the ground in the first place, this tragedy might not have happened. I also read the report by Spain’s Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC) and was very surprised to see that, in spite of the attention given to the R2-5 relay as a possible cause of the takeoff warning sys…
