What is a sink rate you cannot get out of?

Question

I have read numerous NTSB reports on aircraft not being able to recover from a " sink rate" that prevents a safe recovery. It seems it goes from ercoupes to VC-10 commerical jet aircraft. Is this something that is ALWAYS in effect, no matter what the aircraft, or is it avoidable:

Answer 1

C'mon guys if there were no sink rates, safe ones that  is, we'd never get home to our ladies. All sink  rates are recoverable with the availability of speed and altitude. You guys hardly sound like "masters of your craft". Yes there are conditions that can producuce dangerous sink rates but the questioner is under the impression that such death traps are awaiting around every corner. Not so. I just retired after forty years of flying and I can promise you there is nothing that cannot be safely recovered from or avoided. Jeez, folks. Flying just ain't dramatic and there are answers for just about everything.

Answer 2

You talking about a stall? Avoid a dangerous sink rate by keeping you aircraft at proper airspeeds and altitude.

Answer 3

Air acts like a liquid with currents, some times situations occur where the air descends like a water fall.  Flying into this air will cause a large "sink rate" registered by a vertical speed indicator in feet per minutes.

Depending on the aircraft you are in, the climb capability of the aircraft may not be enough to climb up this invisible water fall of air.   A Microburst that occurs below a T storms can have rates of descent up to 6,000 feet/min, far exceeding  most aircraft's climbing capabilities.

Situational awareness is the key to survival in the sky.

Answer 4

Sink rate is a bad time for pilots. If a pilot does not act fast, his plane will crash. But modern and advanced technology has made it possible for the incoming airbus a350 xwb to get itself back into the air during times like that.