4 ms·

Right, I'm confused by this. Surely the pilot would notice at least one of the planes he'd be inevitably crashing into well before he started to land?

ddeck 9y ago
>Surely the pilot would notice at least one of the planes he'd be inevitably crashing into well before he started to land In theory yes, but the risk is that the plane you crash into is not yet on the taxiway or that poor visibility or tunneled focus prevents you from noticing it. You don't need to be moving quickly to have a significant accident. The deadliest aviation accident in history (583 fatalities) resulted when two planes collided on a taxiway (edit: actually on the runway) in dense fog [1]. Edit: as correctly pointed out below, the actual collision took place on the runway at significant speed. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster
- Pinckney 9y ago
  You're mistaken. The KLM plane took off when it was not cleared, and they collided at 260km/h.
  - cyberferret 9y ago
    That was just one of seven distinct mistakes that lead to the crash. The PanAm pilot missed his turnoff, the controllers were busy watching a football match and missed the radio cues that could have alerted them to the fact there was an impending problem etc. etc.
- kgwgk 9y ago
  It's interesting that it happened 40 years ago. Risks might be decreasing if we didn't see a larger one yet.
notatoad 9y ago
>Surely the pilot would notice at least one of the planes he'd be inevitably crashing into well before he started to land? Which seems to be what happened here - the pilot aligned with the taxiway, noticed he was in the wrong spot, and the tower told him to try again.
cyberferret 9y ago
At night, and if he was fatigued or on instruments for a long time before that, the disorientation could have easily lead to such an error. LOTS of planes accidentally line up on the taxiway if visibility is reduced and cockpit workload is high. Heck, aircraft have even taken off on non active runways at the most advanced airport in the world with disastrous results at night. [0] Inclement weather on approach at the end of a long flight can also lead to crew pressing home while under confusion, as in the case of the Korean airlines accident that landed short. [1] More recently, at SFO too, the Asiana B777 crash was something that should have been almost impossible in a modern jetlines, but over reliance on automation and lazy piloting lead to that disaster. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHekCU9CYvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHekCU9CYvI [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II4dwx00v28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II4dwx00v28

ddeck 9y ago

>Surely the pilot would notice at least one of the planes he'd be inevitably crashing into well before he started to land In theory yes, but the risk is that the plane you crash into is not yet on the taxiway or that poor visibility or tunneled focus prevents you from noticing it. You don't need to be moving quickly to have a significant accident. The deadliest aviation accident in history (583 fatalities) resulted when two planes collided on a taxiway (edit: actually on the runway) in dense fog [1]. Edit: as correctly pointed out below, the actual collision took place on the runway at significant speed. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster

Pinckney 9y ago
You're mistaken. The KLM plane took off when it was not cleared, and they collided at 260km/h.
- cyberferret 9y ago
  That was just one of seven distinct mistakes that lead to the crash. The PanAm pilot missed his turnoff, the controllers were busy watching a football match and missed the radio cues that could have alerted them to the fact there was an impending problem etc. etc.
kgwgk 9y ago
It's interesting that it happened 40 years ago. Risks might be decreasing if we didn't see a larger one yet.

notatoad 9y ago

>Surely the pilot would notice at least one of the planes he'd be inevitably crashing into well before he started to land? Which seems to be what happened here - the pilot aligned with the taxiway, noticed he was in the wrong spot, and the tower told him to try again.

cyberferret 9y ago

At night, and if he was fatigued or on instruments for a long time before that, the disorientation could have easily lead to such an error. LOTS of planes accidentally line up on the taxiway if visibility is reduced and cockpit workload is high. Heck, aircraft have even taken off on non active runways at the most advanced airport in the world with disastrous results at night. [0] Inclement weather on approach at the end of a long flight can also lead to crew pressing home while under confusion, as in the case of the Korean airlines accident that landed short. [1] More recently, at SFO too, the Asiana B777 crash was something that should have been almost impossible in a modern jetlines, but over reliance on automation and lazy piloting lead to that disaster. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHekCU9CYvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHekCU9CYvI [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II4dwx00v28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II4dwx00v28