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Maybe it's late, but ChuckMcM didn't say anything that strikes me as degrading or otherwise disregarding the plight of those who died in today's accident. I sus

Maybe it's late, but ChuckMcM didn't say anything that strikes me as degrading or otherwise disregarding the plight of those who died in today's accident. I suspect you may have misread; if so, that's perfectly fine--events like this strike at the very heart of our society in this connected world, and it's reasonable to express emotions to such an effect. I just want to remind you that the observation he made was simply a matter of pointing out that, as aircraft safety records have improved, the accidents that do happen seem so startling because of their rarity. And really, it's quite true. Modern aircraft are technological marvels, and it's difficult to think of one simply falling out of the sky. Granted, structural failure, controlled flight into terrain, loss of instruments or instrumentation (as in AF447 where instruments were deprived of important information due to icing), disoriented pilots, and any number of other things conspiring against what is otherwise a very safe method of travel. Hence the shock. The reality of the situation is well captured by kunai's comment. We can only learn to further improve the airline industry through such accidents. It's a tragedy of limitation and of our inability to see into the future. But, when you stop to think about it, what better way to honor the dead than to make sure whatever accident claimed their lives never happens again? That's why this is important.

yeukhon 13y ago
That's one sad thing about aircraft. It's very complex. Thousands of screws and if one goes missing the aircraft could fall apart at critical moment. I know someone who works as aircraft technician and he describes his job extremely challenging. For example, a pilot said he believed the airplane was hit by lightning but the engineers couldn't locate any lightning mark. Could they risk the chance? Spent an extra 15 minutes and they still couldn't find any. Till this day neither the pilot nor any engineer could confirm that a lightning hit the aircraft that day. Every time I go on an airplane I would pray to get back on the ground safely. Everyone feels the fear when the airplane starts shaking or descending rapidly. Despite all the safety and escape plans, if an aircraft is doomed to crash/break apart/blow up, the chance of staying alive is so slim. And people on the airplane know they are about to die and that fear could last from a few seconds to a whole minute. That's a horrible way to die! I mean if you were on a bus and crashed on the high way, that's probably a few seconds. If you are lucky you could jump off the bus before the impact. This might be off topic, but this is also the exact reason why terrorists like to hijack airplane (I don't want to raise a holy war on airport security here, just let me finish my thoughts here, please!). And you are right, we have to learn through accidents and that's unfortunate. We do that all the time. I count myself a lucky one because I am still alive. I hope I don't become the next victim. I hope this will not happen again.
- kiba 13y ago
  Airplane does have redundant parts, you know?
  - yeukhon 13y ago
    http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/15/us/screws-missing-on-tail-wing-of-plane-in-crash-fatal-to-14.html http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/15/us/screws-missing-on-tail-... Sure a missing screw on a passenger seat is unlikely to cause the airplane to crash. Any redundancy can fail at critical moment.
    - MaulingMonkey 13y ago
      It appears no less than 43 screws went missing in your link.
  - einhverfr 13y ago
    Yes, but there's not a lot of structural redundency, nor can there be.
- jgreen10 13y ago
  Don't be silly. Airplanes are the safest form of travel with the lowest fatality rate. Safer than cars, buses, trains, or walking.
- objclxt 13y ago
  > Thousands of screws and if one goes missing the aircraft could fall apart at critical moment This is not true. Sometimes aircraft have mechanical problems - pitot tubes icing over, for example. There An aircraft is severely over engineered for its job. Commercial aircraft have landed with gaping holes in the fuselages, engines on fire, landing gear stuck shut. There are very, very few parts of the plane that are single points of failure. Some people are understandably nervous flyers. People do get scared when an aircraft starts shaking, and that's natural, but what you should remember is that the aircraft is designed to shake. Pilot error is a far more common cause of accidents than mechanical failure. Remember, you're far, far more likely to be injured or killed driving a car than taking a plane. It's one of - if not the - safest form of transport out there.

yeukhon 13y ago

That's one sad thing about aircraft. It's very complex. Thousands of screws and if one goes missing the aircraft could fall apart at critical moment. I know someone who works as aircraft technician and he describes his job extremely challenging. For example, a pilot said he believed the airplane was hit by lightning but the engineers couldn't locate any lightning mark. Could they risk the chance? Spent an extra 15 minutes and they still couldn't find any. Till this day neither the pilot nor any engineer could confirm that a lightning hit the aircraft that day. Every time I go on an airplane I would pray to get back on the ground safely. Everyone feels the fear when the airplane starts shaking or descending rapidly. Despite all the safety and escape plans, if an aircraft is doomed to crash/break apart/blow up, the chance of staying alive is so slim. And people on the airplane know they are about to die and that fear could last from a few seconds to a whole minute. That's a horrible way to die! I mean if you were on a bus and crashed on the high way, that's probably a few seconds. If you are lucky you could jump off the bus before the impact. This might be off topic, but this is also the exact reason why terrorists like to hijack airplane (I don't want to raise a holy war on airport security here, just let me finish my thoughts here, please!). And you are right, we have to learn through accidents and that's unfortunate. We do that all the time. I count myself a lucky one because I am still alive. I hope I don't become the next victim. I hope this will not happen again.

kiba 13y ago
Airplane does have redundant parts, you know?
- yeukhon 13y ago
  http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/15/us/screws-missing-on-tail-wing-of-plane-in-crash-fatal-to-14.html http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/15/us/screws-missing-on-tail-... Sure a missing screw on a passenger seat is unlikely to cause the airplane to crash. Any redundancy can fail at critical moment.
  - MaulingMonkey 13y ago
    It appears no less than 43 screws went missing in your link.
- einhverfr 13y ago
  Yes, but there's not a lot of structural redundency, nor can there be.
jgreen10 13y ago
Don't be silly. Airplanes are the safest form of travel with the lowest fatality rate. Safer than cars, buses, trains, or walking.
objclxt 13y ago
> Thousands of screws and if one goes missing the aircraft could fall apart at critical moment This is not true. Sometimes aircraft have mechanical problems - pitot tubes icing over, for example. There An aircraft is severely over engineered for its job. Commercial aircraft have landed with gaping holes in the fuselages, engines on fire, landing gear stuck shut. There are very, very few parts of the plane that are single points of failure. Some people are understandably nervous flyers. People do get scared when an aircraft starts shaking, and that's natural, but what you should remember is that the aircraft is designed to shake. Pilot error is a far more common cause of accidents than mechanical failure. Remember, you're far, far more likely to be injured or killed driving a car than taking a plane. It's one of - if not the - safest form of transport out there.