5 ms·

I'd suggest that the miracle escape is testament to ~100? years of evolution of civil aviation safety practices.

by somewhereoutth 3y ago

adastra22 3y ago
5 people died. I wouldn't call it a miracle.
- ApolloFortyNine 3y ago
  >All 379 passengers and crew of a Japan Airlines plane escaped a devastating fire that erupted after it collided with a smaller Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Tuesday. That's 379 lives saved, is the number not important, or is it the ratio?
  - reactordev 3y ago
    It should have been 384. If 10,000 people die but 1,000,000 are "saved", do we not mourn the 10,000 people? Have a heart my man. What if you were one of those 10,000?
    - RHSeeger 3y ago
      If a "normal" outcome for such an event would have been much closer to 1,000,000 being killed, then yes it would be wonderful if 990,000 were saved. Sure, we mourn the dead, but we can still be happy for the saved.
      - adastra22 3y ago
        Still, the word miracle would be inappropriate.
      - reactordev 3y ago
        wonderful for sure, but not a miracle. A miracle would be "all 1,000,000 people survived". Media likes to throw words with weight behind things without. It's not a miracle, it's extremely fortunate. However, any loss of life due to preventable disaster is/should be - unacceptable. The coast guard aircraft crewmen that were struck shouldn't have been near the runway at all. They should have waived off to go-around or been better at ground operations to make sure the runways were clear.
        RHSeeger 3y ago
        > It's not a miracle, it's extremely fortunate. Depends on your definition. From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miracle https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miracle miracle 1. an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs the healing miracles described in the Gospels 2. an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment The bridge is a miracle of engineering. 3. Christian Science : a divinely natural phenomenon experienced humanly as the fulfillment of spiritual law Most of the people surviving an event where they would have been expected to die certainly qualifies as "an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment".
DiggyJohnson 3y ago
Yes? That doesn’t make it incorrect to call it a miracle.
- squigz 3y ago
  Yes, it does. "a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency."
  - squigz 3y ago
    Rather amusing to me how many people are downvoting this comment.
    - mhb 3y ago
      Yeah, it's rough out there for pedants.
  - rsynnott 3y ago
    That’s one definition, but it’s often used to just mean something very surprising and good. Or, if you’re an economist, just anything mildly unexpected.
- deepersprout 3y ago
  Or god wanted them all to die, but human technological advances made them live.
- ramesh31 3y ago
  > Yes? That doesn’t make it incorrect to call it a miracle. It was the intended, purposefully engineered outcome for precisely such an event. Not even remotely a miracle. The airframe designers at Airbus saved those lives, not divine providence.
  - DiggyJohnson 3y ago
    > precisely such an event There is a lot of variables in an accident like this. If some of those variables were different, this could have been much worse, despite the hard work of the engineers at Airbus. That's what makes it a "miracle". In general, I disagree that calling something a 'miracle' implies or withholds credit from those responsible for the outcome. It's very pedantic.

I'd suggest that the miracle escape is testament to ~100? years of evolution of civil aviation safety practices.

adastra22 3y ago

5 people died. I wouldn't call it a miracle.

ApolloFortyNine 3y ago
>All 379 passengers and crew of a Japan Airlines plane escaped a devastating fire that erupted after it collided with a smaller Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Tuesday. That's 379 lives saved, is the number not important, or is it the ratio?
- reactordev 3y ago
  It should have been 384. If 10,000 people die but 1,000,000 are "saved", do we not mourn the 10,000 people? Have a heart my man. What if you were one of those 10,000?
  - RHSeeger 3y ago
    If a "normal" outcome for such an event would have been much closer to 1,000,000 being killed, then yes it would be wonderful if 990,000 were saved. Sure, we mourn the dead, but we can still be happy for the saved.
    - adastra22 3y ago
      Still, the word miracle would be inappropriate.
    - reactordev 3y ago
      wonderful for sure, but not a miracle. A miracle would be "all 1,000,000 people survived". Media likes to throw words with weight behind things without. It's not a miracle, it's extremely fortunate. However, any loss of life due to preventable disaster is/should be - unacceptable. The coast guard aircraft crewmen that were struck shouldn't have been near the runway at all. They should have waived off to go-around or been better at ground operations to make sure the runways were clear.
      - RHSeeger 3y ago
        > It's not a miracle, it's extremely fortunate. Depends on your definition. From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miracle https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miracle miracle 1. an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs the healing miracles described in the Gospels 2. an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment The bridge is a miracle of engineering. 3. Christian Science : a divinely natural phenomenon experienced humanly as the fulfillment of spiritual law Most of the people surviving an event where they would have been expected to die certainly qualifies as "an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment".

DiggyJohnson 3y ago

Yes? That doesn’t make it incorrect to call it a miracle.

squigz 3y ago
Yes, it does. "a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency."
- squigz 3y ago
  Rather amusing to me how many people are downvoting this comment.
  - mhb 3y ago
    Yeah, it's rough out there for pedants.
- rsynnott 3y ago
  That’s one definition, but it’s often used to just mean something very surprising and good. Or, if you’re an economist, just anything mildly unexpected.
deepersprout 3y ago
Or god wanted them all to die, but human technological advances made them live.
ramesh31 3y ago
> Yes? That doesn’t make it incorrect to call it a miracle. It was the intended, purposefully engineered outcome for precisely such an event. Not even remotely a miracle. The airframe designers at Airbus saved those lives, not divine providence.
- DiggyJohnson 3y ago
  > precisely such an event There is a lot of variables in an accident like this. If some of those variables were different, this could have been much worse, despite the hard work of the engineers at Airbus. That's what makes it a "miracle". In general, I disagree that calling something a 'miracle' implies or withholds credit from those responsible for the outcome. It's very pedantic.