Merlin negative G cutout too quick?

[Space Communist]

Originally Posted by Viper2000

25 seconds in you can see and hear the real behaviour. It's obviously difficult to estimate what the g loads were during the roll, but it looks more like reduced positive than actual negative g to me...

An excellent description of the problem is found on page 5 of this accident report:

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...pdf_501355.pdf

It is important to recognise that the negative g cut is a two stage phenomenon of lean cut possibly followed by rich cut, with the large amount of black smoke in the exhaust being symptomatic of over-fuelling (whether the engine actually cuts out or not is a function of the degree of over fuelling).

You can see this in the video; the smoke starts some time after the aeroplane passes 180º roll angle.

Yup I think that cinches it. I had forgotten that little tidbit form the movie. You can clearly see it just takes a second for it to be a problem.