re: It’s Been Over 20 Years Since the Last Catastrophic U.S. Large Plane Crash

Dick. This is NOT the thread to be posting when I am flying home from a biz trip.

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ValuJet

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I have long thought that incident (along with United 232) represented a huge missed opportunity to reconsider some largely unexamined tenets of engineering.

ValuJet 592 crashed because some equipment used to supply those oxygen masks in airliner ceilings burned up. 110 people died. Have those oxygen masks saved 110 lives? If not, what does that tell us? What exactly are those masks for and what are the alternatives?

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Exactly and that’s why I’ll never do it again. I can drive or cruise to every destination I’d ever care to go. I know the risks are much larger driving a car but at least you’ve got a chance in a car crash

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More people are killed in cars over a few years than in all of commercial aviation history.

A plane carrying the Minneapolis Lakers made a crash landing back in 1960. But yeah it is pretty amazing considering all of the travel going on.

I knew Katie at Tech too. She was one of the nicest people I have ever met. That was terrible.

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Reading about that airbus jet going down because the pilot was able to break off the tail because of rudder inputs is mind blowing. Airbus’s literally are made to keep pilots confined to certain situations. Can’t believe this was able to happen.

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Sorry, can't stand by while Sten is being slandered like this. From Wiki:

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It has been widely misunderstood that flight below maneuvering speed will provide total protection from structural failure. In response to the destruction of American Airlines Flight 587, a CFR Final Rule was issued clarifying that "flying at or below the design maneuvering speed does not allow a pilot to make multiple large control inputs in one airplane axis or single full control inputs in more than one airplane axis at a time". Such actions "may result in structural failures at any speed, including below the maneuvering speed."

Prior to this accident, virtually everyone who learned to fly a plane was taught that you could not break the plane with max control deflection below Va (design maneuvering speed). AA pilots in particular were trained to aggressively apply the controls to counter an upset incident. The Airbus "fly by wire" control laws that aggressively limit pilot inputs were not incorporated in the Airbus 300/310 series and didn't come along until the 320 series aircraft.

Like they say, "The science changed". He flew the airplane the way it was designed and the way he had been taught and we all learned a tough lesson.

It’s really interesting to look at Wikipedia that has crashes by ear. In the 50s and 60s they were fairly regular. They started to slow down some in the 70s but still occurred and even further in the 80s. Technology Did the trick. Many times, sadly, it was a plane crash that identified the needed the technology such as the one in New Orleans.

Have any of the airline pilots in here been able to duplicate the Sioux City crash where the center engine turbine let go and took out all the hydraulics on the plane? And by duplicate I mean fly it for an hour. Pilots "flew" it by the outboard engines for about an hour and was able to control crash land it at Sioux City. Like a third of the folks survived. I heard the captain (or co pilot - been 20-25 yrs) give a talk about it.

Ok on a 717 delta flight out of Love back to Atlanta. Not even TV’s in the seat backs. This may be the one.