Has anyone here ever actually worked on one of these cars, beyond basic maintenance and service?

I honestly can't believe what I'm reading about this car. It looks like something Airbus would produce.

Yaw Rate and Acceleration Sensors, Brake Pedal Stroke Simulator and feedback Sensor, Steering Wheel Angle Sensor.... It even has a warning buzzer for the skid control system. It's sounds similar to a stall warning indicator on an airplane. In fact, the CAN system data bus on this car appears to push data at 3 to 4 times the rate and bandwidth of an A300 ACARS system.

It is amazing to me how this car could be produced and offered for sale for under a couple hundred thousand dollars. VERY impressive. And slightly intimidating at the same time.

 

...yet the visors pop off when you hit a pot hole at 40 MPH!

Go figure!

 

Well, at least I don't have a composite vertical stabilizer that pops off at 400kts on climb out, in the wake turbulence of a vehicle ahead of me.

That is way more of a safety issue than sun visors.

(Gratuitous smack at Airbus)

 

You mean sorta like the entire nose section of a B747 dropping off/away over Long Island because the cargo door just forward of the number 3 engine accidentally opened, taking much of the airframe structure with it, during climb out..??

Like the United B747 out of Haiwii, the number 3 engine, and quite possibly the number 4 engine, likely had to be shut down because of debris damage. The B747 was left with assymetrical thrust, seriously so, with no time/thought to retard the throttles of the number 1 & 2 engines still in HIGH thrust mode (might have even advanced them to full military POWER), forcing the pilot to use TOO much rudder and the resulting severe yaw was simply too much for the already weakened nose section structure.

 

Since the advent of VSC I have always believed that a "stick shaker" should be implemented on our cars when VSC activates, sort of like the "warning" ABS gives via the vibratory action of brake pedal.

VSC "signals" the new electric power stearing system to "resist" providing boost power to the stearing wheel if the driver attempts to turn it in a direction that might exaserbate the situation. One of the european marques, BMW or MB, has a system that actually allow the VSC to counterstear against the driver stearing wheel input.

I would think a vibratory, stick shaker, signal via the stearing wheel would be perfectly appropriate.

I am also of the mind that ABS should NOT be allowed to activate during any level of braking unless VSC detects a need.

 

Oh gee whiz. I know... like a B737 Yaw Damper blowing a load at full deflection over PIT, or Super 80 elevator screws, or ATR's low and slow in icy WX.

I said it was gratuitous. And I ride a 320 at least once a month, fully sober.

But honestly I can't believe you live in Boeing's back yard and can utter such things. Blasphemy!

 

Brilliant idea... but what if the driver is attempting to avoid an obstacle? Or if the system is spoofed by dynamic icing conditions? These are hazards unique to two-dimensional travel, that aren't really a factor in open airspace.

How would you mitigate these scenarios?

 

That PIT 737 back in '94 was the result of an undiscovered design flaw in a dual "spool" hydraulic valve that caused the rudder to defect opposite the pilot's command, so the pilot pushed harder....

The ATR was the result of leaving the auto-pilot engaged when it should not have been and then executing a "pull-up" when the stall warning sounded.

The Alaska elevator screw "failure" was plain and simple stupidity on the part of maintenance supervison. The first test failed and so a second mechanic was ordered to "retest". In my day's in that type of work I would have REQUIRED at least two subsequent test results to overturn the inital, NEGATIVE, one. And you can be certain the persons doing the 2nd and 3rd testing would not know of the previous results.

I worked for Boeing from '61 to '68. Flew round trip seattle/memphis on NWA's airbus just last week.

 

Whoa!!! You were around in the legendary 707 days. Maybe even early 747-100 development. My hat's off to you. That must have been the experience of a lifetime.

I really miss the old NW DC-9's. They still run a few between MSP and DET, but really... who wants to do that?

 

PAN-AM 707 "Morning Star" Seattle to London.

Worked on the cabin intercom/PA system for the 747, got an early ride on the prototype.