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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 som

by 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
  I have to be clear that one screw could lead to a fatal crash. Mechanical failure and pilot errors are more common and I agree with you on that. http://www.thelocal.fr/20111125/1869 http://www.thelocal.fr/20111125/1869 This plane took off with 30 screws missing. But if it was under critical moment (extreme weather or mechanical failure), going with 30 screws could have a chain impact and eventually lead to a fatal crash. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/door-falls-off-plane_n_4092987.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/door-falls-off-plan... This is another lucky incident at 1000 feet. Imagine this at critical moment and at 20k, 30k altitude! I would suppose some passengers would die if that happened. 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. I think that's up to argument and depends on how one look at the issue. Is plan safer? There are more corners, more cars, more trains than aircraft combined at any given time. And the most important thing to consider is getting help. I have to press hard on this: if you are in the air, the chance of you surviving is low. Even on the ground after a serious car accident at a reasonable location, most patients could receive proper medical treatment within minutes. But when you are in the air? In the case of gunman I could try to escape on the ground but not really in the air.
  - rehack 13y ago
Zancarius 13y ago
I think you're absolutely right on the emotional front. And it's curious in a sense, because I think it's partially our "technology bias." We see aircraft as these complex machines, almost like black boxes in a sense: People in, plane up, plane down, people out. In spite of the aircraft having existed in parallel with much of modern society, we still see them as a pinnacle of human achievement (ignoring international space programs for a moment). Which is probably why the disaster of such a beast crashing seems so jarring, in spite of it happening so infrequently. Of course, if you're lucky enough to survive the impact when one does crash, the smoke and fire from burning fuel is usually what kills...

by yeukhon 13y ago

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
I have to be clear that one screw could lead to a fatal crash. Mechanical failure and pilot errors are more common and I agree with you on that. http://www.thelocal.fr/20111125/1869 http://www.thelocal.fr/20111125/1869 This plane took off with 30 screws missing. But if it was under critical moment (extreme weather or mechanical failure), going with 30 screws could have a chain impact and eventually lead to a fatal crash. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/door-falls-off-plane_n_4092987.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/door-falls-off-plan... This is another lucky incident at 1000 feet. Imagine this at critical moment and at 20k, 30k altitude! I would suppose some passengers would die if that happened. 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. I think that's up to argument and depends on how one look at the issue. Is plan safer? There are more corners, more cars, more trains than aircraft combined at any given time. And the most important thing to consider is getting help. I have to press hard on this: if you are in the air, the chance of you surviving is low. Even on the ground after a serious car accident at a reasonable location, most patients could receive proper medical treatment within minutes. But when you are in the air? In the case of gunman I could try to escape on the ground but not really in the air.
- rehack 13y ago

Zancarius 13y ago

I think you're absolutely right on the emotional front. And it's curious in a sense, because I think it's partially our "technology bias." We see aircraft as these complex machines, almost like black boxes in a sense: People in, plane up, plane down, people out. In spite of the aircraft having existed in parallel with much of modern society, we still see them as a pinnacle of human achievement (ignoring international space programs for a moment). Which is probably why the disaster of such a beast crashing seems so jarring, in spite of it happening so infrequently. Of course, if you're lucky enough to survive the impact when one does crash, the smoke and fire from burning fuel is usually what kills...