PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Accident investigation and PPRuNe (Discussion)
Old 2nd January 2008 | 07:54
  #20 (permalink)  
chuks
 
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,567
Likes: 2
From: Germany
Try the Third World!

There are many cases when, for one reason or another, the truth is left undiscovered or even concealed. Even the very high-profile Concorde crash led to allegations that maintenance errors caused a critical mis-alignment in the landing gear that went ignored in the official report for some reason.

Many accidents in the Third World go essentially un-investigated and under-reported. And? Guess why aviation there can be so dangerous.

I, too, watched with interest as that physicist just cut through all the palaver to swish the bit of o-ring around in the icewater and show how inelastic it had become, in the case of the Challenger accident. But bear in mind that there you had a brilliant mind at work backed up by many hours of expert investigation.

I guess I just get a bit testy from my day job. That primarily has to do with safety, efficiency and, way down the list, keeping the SLF happy. It is often so that the safety-related stuff makes the SLF rather UN-happy, when, depending on their social status, wealth, etc., they may let me know about that! As in, "I have a meeting in Charlotte and I need to know when we are ready to go!!!!"

"What, you think I have a remote control in my pocket that will make the fog at our destination disappear, you moron?" In my dreams! No, what I say is just, "Sorry, sir, we are working on that. Would you like another cup of coffee, perhaps? Doris!" The guy figures I am not very bright, not being able to answer a simple question with a direct answer. But, hey, if I were really, really smart then I would be a powerful and successful businessman, not just a humble airplane driver. Such is life, eh?

The problem often is that people try to extrapolate from what they know, often quite a lot, yes, to guess what it is we have to work with. That is entertaining, I guess. On the other hand, when some widget factory goes bankrupt, is it entertaining to try and guess what mistakes the Chairman made to cause that to happen?
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