Some Thoughts on Plane Crashes

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’ve been watching reports on plane crash investigations on YouTube on my smart tv. Every time a plane crashes, there is an intensive investigation that can last two years or more. There are usually recommendations for changes in the design of the plane or flying procedures, but these recommendations are sometimes ignored. Here are some observations, in no particular order, based on watching several dozen 45-minute reports on air crashes. The word “sometimes” can be added to many of the statements below.

Rushing to take off is a mistake.

Some airlines try to increase profits by running the planes 24/7 and cutting back on maintenance.

Experienced pilots think it’s okay to skip items on the checklist because they’re experienced.

Cultural traditions prevent younger pilots from pointing out errors made by experienced, respected, older pilots. This is especially true in eastern cultures.

Russian pilots, instruments, and procedures are different from those in the rest of the world.

Maintenance workers think they are smart enough that they don’t have to follow procedures.

Pilots think they are smarter than their instruments.

Lack of communication and misunderstandings between pilot and co-pilot is a problem.

English is the universal language of pilots and air traffic controllers.

Not being proficient in English is an all too common problem for pilots.

Politics and “important people” can pressure pilots into taking unnecessary risks. Job security is placed before safety.

Military and commercial planes are a bad mix because they have different rules, equipment, and procedures.

Air traffic controllers work with bad equipment and lack of support.

Air traffic controllers and pilots misunderstand what the other means.

Pilots ignore what they think are small problems, assuming they don’t matter. A little smoke in the plane is an example.

Defects reported by the flight crew may not be repaired for weeks.

Politics in a foreign country can influence the final report on a crash. No matter what happened, it wasn’t their fault.

American and western European pilots have better training than many foreign pilots.

There is no guaranteed safe seat in a plane crash, although up front is usually worse.

One single thing is generally not responsible for a crash. It takes a string of problems and mistakes to bring a plane down.

Small private planes and large commercial airliners are a bad mix.

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) records for only thirty minutes and then records over itself.

Until recently, the two black boxes (voice and flight data) recorded onto mylar tape.

The black boxes are unbelievably tough, being able to withstand thousands of G forces, thousands of degrees of heat, and tremendous pressure from submersion in the ocean.

When a black box is severely damaged, the NTSB or the box’s manufacturer can often retrieve information from it.

Although most of the world uses the metric system, altitude is reported in feet, and speed in MPH.

When the oxygen masks are deployed because of decompression of the cabin, each mask is powered by a small canister above the passenger. This makes oxygen for about twenty minutes. It can also be a fire hazard because the chemical reactions it produces.

I have posted before on aviation safety - always thought that the 'standard' aviation safety statistics which always quote deaths per millions of passenger miles are eyewash . The figures are arrived at by multiplying the number of passengers on a flight by the distance flown e.g 400 souls on a 747 from London to ny 3000 miles = 1,200,000 safe passenger miles ! This is really misleading . Why not quote the number of times each passenger exposes him/her self to the risk - much more realistic. The more you fly the more you expose yourself to the risk of an 'incident' - exactly the same as being in a car - most folk drive or get into their cars twice a day (the drive to and from work) that's 700 exposures per year approx - how many flights do they take per year . If you have time - this is interesting - http://asndata.aviation-safety.net/industry-reports/Boeing-Statistical-Summary-1959-2013.pdf