OPNLguy From United States, joined Jun 1999, 12628 posts, RR: 75 Reply 7, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 17637 times:
I have no idea what it's for (and I'm very curious), but it doesn't appear to be anything designed for inflight use, as evidenced by a key lock. (Can you imagine some type of inflight problem and then one of crew having to fumble for the key to gain access to whatever this is?)
They seem to be trying to prevent inadvertent activation of -something- but what that -something- is beyond me... Special air/ground sensing controls? Data acquisition?
Carelessness and overconfidence are usually far more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks.
Speedbird128 From South Africa, joined Oct 2003, 710 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 17325 times:
Quoting Uniuniunium (Reply 5): I'm thinking its the control for the explosive escape hatch fitted to the R1 cargo door on that acft.
I think this is the correct answer... If I am not mistaken, this explosive hatch was fitted to the cargo door on the first acft only (and I believe on the Boeings too) in that if something hectic went wrong on the first (couple of) flight/s, then they had a way to bail out of the aircraft without landing it...
AirEMS From United States, joined May 2004, 684 posts, RR: 3 Reply 11, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 16974 times:
when flight testing new airliners do they install anti-spin chutes? I know I saw one on the 717 when they were testing it... now granted the 380 is a little bigger so would they be able to put a chute on it??? and remeber size doesn't matter
JBirdAV8r From United States, joined Jun 2001, 2595 posts, RR: 13 Reply 15, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 15281 times:
Quoting AirEMS (Reply 11): when flight testing new airliners do they install anti-spin chutes? I know I saw one on the 717 when they were testing it... now granted the 380 is a little bigger so would they be able to put a chute on it??? and remeber size doesn't matter
From my understanding that's mostly for aircraft with T-tails for recovery from deep stalls. IIRC the CRJ also used it (and it was the accidental ejection of the chute from the airframe rather than the deployment of the chute during a stall/spin that led to the crash of one of the prototypes). Basically, on a T-tail aircraft, when the wing's critical angle of attack is exceeded, the turbulent separated airflow can "blanket" the horizontal stabilizer, making elevator inputs ineffective, and making recovery extremely difficult. The chute deployment would put the aircraft in a large nose-down angle and sufficiently affect the relative wind over the horiz stab enough to effect a recovery from the stalled condition. On a conventional-tailed aircraft (like the A380) this is unnecessary as most of the turbulent separated air flows above the horizontal stabilizer
TaromA380 From Romania, joined Sep 2005, 282 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 14317 times:
It's the overboost lever, sort of special engine post-combustion allowing Mach 2 speeds for a short time (max 2 hours). It's marked "Danger" because of sonic bang which may affect ground people.
Pilot21 From Ireland, joined Oct 1999, 1088 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 13327 times:
While I can't be 100% sure, my guess is this was a lever installed ahead of the first flight to allow the crew escape in the event of a catastrophic failure. If you remember, it was reported at the time of the first flight that all the crew wore parachutes, so my guess is this was an emergency hatch blow lever in a situation where they had to bail out.
Obviously as it wasn't needed, no need for it on the 2nd plane.
AIRCANL1011 From Canada, joined Aug 2005, 262 posts, RR: 1 Reply 22, posted (3 years 2 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 10825 times:
I think this a special feature only on the A380. Its is used to vent the suction that is caused if all the toilets are flushed at the same time. It will prevent the oxygen masks from falling and provide fresh air in the cabin.
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. I wonder if the pilots switch over the displays during flight and game. j/k
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