Airplane accidents
somehow attract public attention with their drama and destruction. Any car
accident doesn’t equal the size of air disaster. Comparable could be possibly
train or ship crashes like Titanic . Below you have three largest plane
catastrophes in history.
1. Tenerife
Airport Disaster, 27 March 1977
http://randomstory.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/14.jpg
It is the worst accident in the history of commercial
aviation. 583 people died after two Boeing 747s (KLM – Dutch airlines and Pan
Am) collided on a runway in Tenerife at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North
Airport). This case is classic miscommunication, human failure. The following
series of circumstances contributed to the sad end. First of all, it was very
foggy. The KLM flight was in a hurry because of strict Dutch regulations of
flying quota. They fueled the plane in Tenerife instead of Gran Canaria to save
time. This caused that the plane was heavier and it’s contributed to a bigger
explosion. Finally the cause was a human failure. Detailed communication errors
you can find at the official report or Wikipedia article:
2. Japan
Airlines Flight 123, 12 August 1985
Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFjy65WZRekG76wtLnDQkClHUh61d92CLhwO4KOj2duG8Q9kvzsF_jz8knGHnwPv-EHmF-MBMEkYFhxrX45873sJqtuFp8koS2A_DFytIL2PdTrg5is2mZZIkICstukZHWErzN4iLnvIU/s1600/Japan+Airlines+Flight+123+%25E2%2580%2593+1985.jpg
This was a flight from Tokyo to Osaka. A plane crashed
into Mount Takamagahara. 520 people died in Boeing 747 and 4 people survived.
It’s the worst single-aircraft disaster in history. Several minutes after take
off, the rear bulkhead (area between cabin and tail) failed, tearing off
the rudder and simultaneously destroying all four hydraulic systems. The pilot
lost control of the plane. The cause of the accident was tracked back to a
tailstrike during a landing seven years before, which badly scratched the
bottom of the plane. The repairs couldn’t possibly survive so many flights.
3. Charkhi
Dadri mid-air collision, 12 November 1996
Source: http://im.rediff.com/news/2011/aug/03sli5.jpg
This disaster occurred when a Saudi Arabian Airline Flight 763 (Boeing
747-168B) collided with the Kazakhstani Airline Flight 1907 (Il-76) over the
village of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana. All of passengers and crew died – 349
people. The commission determined that collision had been the fault of Kazakh
pilot who descended from the assigned altitude of 15,000 to 14,500 feet and
subsequently 14,000 feet and even lower. The report ascribed the cause to the
lack of English language skills. Kazakh pilots sometimes confused calculation
because they using meters altitudes and kilometer distance, while other
countries miles and feet.
Sources :
Comments
Here you can find some really interesting statistical data on the topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_safety#Comparison_to_other_modes_of_travel
Crashes like that make me think about the responsibility lying on the constructors, engineers, technicians and other people involved in constructing and maintaing a plane. If any of them fails, it can lead to death of hundreds of people.
I also recommend looking into some charts:
http://static.polityka.pl/_resource/res/path/33/b1/33b1e2bc-49df-4c9b-8d6b-cd48c7f131c5_830x830
I've travelled by plane many many times and I love that means of transport. I like the atmosphere of airports, the start and landing (the moments which most people are afraid of I believe).
On the other hand I would like to fly a jet fighter very much, take control over it. I don't like passenger planes because they are piloted by someone I can't even see and there are too many things that can go wrong.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/05/18/fbi-plane-attacks-real-or-not/
It is horrible for me how many people die in the same moment.
Although airplane is one of the most safe means of transport, I'm a little afraid of fllying. I don’t fly very often and I’m glad for it. I don’t like fly in view of pressure.
Aviation Disasters are really bloodcurdling.
I would like to mention one of the most recent aviation disasters - the one in which a pilot commited suiscide and took 500 people with him. It makes me furious - ok, if he wanted to end his life so be it, some people don't have better option, but why take so many lives away?
The other thing is that almost-disaster that happened a couple of years ago, when an airplane flying from USA had to land in Okęcie airport without the landing gear. I find the pilot's focus, professionalism and skills very inspiring. My friends were on this plane and they said that nobody told them nothing to avoid the panic. They started to feel that something was wrong when the plane was making circles above the airport for some time. Then suddenly they started landing and it was a little bit harder than usually. They had to evacuate the plane sliding from these pontoons. They are not traumatized at all and they haven't stopped travelling by planes:) However I have other friends that always travel separately in case that if something happened their children would have one parent to take care over them.
But mainly after 9/11 the terrorist attack paranoia has been elevated to atrocious levels (even if there weren't that many successful plane captures since then).
Also flying in a giant metal tube might scare some people simply because it's the most unnatural transportation on earth for humans - after all we aren't suppose to fly :)