Mirage probe puts spotlight on Dassault’s flight computer’s behaviour
“pitch oscillations” when their aircraft was five metres above the ground, the two pilots who died were unluckier than several predecessors whose aircraft misbehaved at higher altitudes. An incident recorded in 1989 recounts that Mirage 2000, aircraft number KF138, experienced “sudden and momentary pitch oscillations… (for) a few seconds” at an altitude of 4,500 feet some 16 minutes after take-off. The oscillations exerted a violent force of “+10.5g to -6g” (“g” indicates the force of gravity) on the pilots and caused the cockpit’s red and amber warning lights to glow.
Similarly, in 1999, Mirage 2000, aircraft number C98, “experienced momentary pitch oscillations… (for) a few seconds at 10,500 feet altitude, exerting a force of 11g on the aircraft and pilots. Exerted over a few more seconds, 11g force would cause most pilots to black out.
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