Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:32 am
"Regretfully, my first flight for Atlas from Rovaniemi to Amsterdam ended up in the Indal delta just outside of Sundsvall, Sweden after the loss of all engine power. While cruising at FL360 over western Sweden, I suddenly lost all engine power without an apparent cause. I immediately started the APU to get the AC power and pneumatic pressure to drive the hydraulic demand pumps so I could regain control of the aicraft again. I attempted to start the engines again and engaged the fuel heaters as I figured that the fuel could have turned to slush at these latitudes. That's when I noticed the engine starters and fuel controls did not respond correctly to my inputs, and after five restart attempts it became apparent that the engines could not be relit again for some reason. I was by now descending through FL200, and a quick glance at my map revealed the nearest international airport was ESNN, Sundsvall. I made a left turn towards it, and tuned its single ILS. Although I had hydraulic pressure in all four systems I was unable to extend any flaps, even using the alternate systems. After circling the airport to lose altitude I decided I wanted to be at about 3000 feet at the outer marker, but I underestimated the amount of kinetic energy contained in the aircraft when I reached that target and aimed for the runway. The gear went down without a hitch, but without flaps the plane started to pick up speed very rapidly, and I flew another, very tight circuit to try again. It had previously occurred to me that the runway was quite short, and now I saw that it had water at both ends. When I turned final I again I still was coming in too fast, but I decided that either I'm putting it down now and at least try to stop in time or clip the trees on my next circuit and burn. I used cross controls to try and lose speed, but I knew this technique isn't much good in FS as it doesn't take into account the increased fuselage drag at an angle. I touched down halfway down the runway at 160 knots and slammed the brakes. I clearly wasn't going to make it, so I used the rudder to steer clear of the approach lighting and localizer antenna and waited for the 250-ton plane to plow its way through the trees to the left of the runway and then into the river. She hit the water at approximately 80 knots and will probably be a write-off. I'm sorry. <!--emo&:mellow:-->[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mellow.gif[/img]<!--endemo--> She'll probably look a bit like this now: <a href='http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ci605/photo.shtml' target='_blank'>http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ci605/photo.shtml</a>"
billg