physics

Olympic Airways Flight 3838

Olympic Airways Flight 3838 is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olympic Airways Flight 3838 rather than just read about it. In short: On 14 September 1999, Olympic Airways Flight 3838, a flight operating for the Hellenic Air Force, experienced multiple pilot-induced oscillations while over southern Romania, killing seven people. The aircraft—a Dassault Falcon 900B flying from Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece—was flying to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest, Romania, for the Interbalkan Conference of Foreign…

Key takeaways

Olympic Airways Flight 3838 belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olympic Airways Flight 3838 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olympic Airways Flight 3838 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

On 14 September 1999, Olympic Airways Flight 3838, a flight operating for the Hellenic Air Force, experienced multiple pilot-induced oscillations while over southern Romania, killing seven people. The aircraft—a Dassault Falcon 900B flying from Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece—was flying to Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest, Romania, for the Interbalkan Conference of Foreign Ministers and was carrying Greek deputy foreign minister Giannos Kranidiotis. While descending through 15,000 ft (4,600 m), the autopilot disconnected, causing an unfavorable stabilizer trim situation. In response to the disconnection, the pilot flying attempted to correct the pitch of the aircraft by use of the control column. However, this resulted in ten separate pitch oscillations with g-forces that exceeded the maneuvering load factor for the aircraft. As a result, six of the passengers, including Kranidiotis, were killed and one additional passenger died three days after the accident. The investigation, conducted by the Romanian Civil Aviation Inspectorate, concluded several factors that led to the accident. As the aircraft was climbing out of Athens, the pilots received a warning related to the aircraft's pitch system. The pilots did not properly identify and evaluate the failure and used inappropriate checklists only designed for training. As the aircraft was descending, the pilot flying exerted enough force on the control column to disconnect the autopilot. The continued force on the control column led to the beginning of the pilot-induced oscillations. Additionally, none of the deceased passengers were wearing seatbelts during the descent phase, and this contributed to the severity of the incident.

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a 12-year-old Dassault Falcon 900B, with registration SX-ECH and manufacturer serial number 026. It was powered by three Honeywell TFE-731 turbofan engines. The aircraft was registered to the Hellenic Air Force but operated by Olympic Airways on the day of the accident. The primary flight controls on the Dassault Falcon are hydraulic-powered. Control inputs from the cockpit go through a series of physical rods and bellcranks that cause the movement of servoactuators in the rudder, elevators and ailerons. Artificial flight-control feel on the flight controls is achieved through the artificial-feel unit (AFU). One part of the AFU is the automatic spring-load adjusting system, known as the Arthur Q unit (Arthur unit), which adjusts the artificial feel on the control column depending on the elevator position and airspeed. At low airspeeds, the Arthur unit adjusts the artificial feel to require little force to move the control column and elevators, while at high airspeeds, the Arthur unit adjusts the artificial feel to require high force to move the control column and the elevators. A system called the box Arthur pitch system (BAP) monitors the difference between the position of the Arthur unit actuator and the position of the horizontal stabilizer. If the difference between the two passes a certain threshold, a lock will activate, a "PITCH FEEL" warning light will activate in the cockpit, and the Arthur unit will revert back into the low-speed position. The "PITCH FEEL" light will deactivate when the slats are extended or when the airspeed is less than or equal to 210 kn (390 km/h).

Passengers and crew The aircraft was flown by two captains. The pilot-in-command (PIC) and pilot flying was 46-year-old Yiannis Androulakis. Androulakis had 8,239 total flight hours, 270 of which were on the Dassault Falcon. The co-pilot (F/O) and pilot not flying was 44-year-old Grigoris Sinekoglou. Sinekoglou had 7,465 total flight hours, 231 of which were on the Dassault Falcon. Both captains had valid airline transport pilot licences issued by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority. Additionally, they had substantially more experience and passed proficiency checks on the Boeing 737-400. In addition to the two members of the flight crew and the flight attendant, the Dassault Falcon was carrying Giannos Kranidiotis, the deputy foreign minister of Greece. In addition to him was his 23-year-old son, his personal guard, a cameraman from the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), two ERT journalists, the director of the minister's office, a journalist from Vradyni, a minister advisor, the wife of the foreign ministry spokesperson, and an aircraft engineer. All were on board for a flight to the Interbalkan Conference of Foreign Ministers that was to be hosted in Bucharest.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olympic Airways Flight 3838

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olympic Airways Flight 3838 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olympic Airways Flight 3838 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olympic Airways Flight 3838 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olympic Airways Flight 3838

In research: Olympic Airways Flight 3838 appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olympic Airways Flight 3838 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olympic Airways Flight 3838 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 in Romania, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olympic Airways Flight 3838 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Olympic Airways Flight 3838 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olympic Airways Flight 3838 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olympic Airways Flight 3838 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olympic Airways Flight 3838 in simple terms?

Why does Olympic Airways Flight 3838 matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olympic Airways Flight 3838?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olympic Airways Flight 3838.