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Falling out of the sky?
Author: TriSec    Date: 02/28/2009 13:10:25

I awoke this morning and skimmed the news like I always do. Yet another aviation story leaped off the page at me, this one from Romania:


TIMISOARA, Romania – A Romanian plane carrying 51 people made a safe emergency landing in western Romania on Saturday and all the occupants escaped injury, officials said.

The Carpatair flight's front landing gear became stuck and the plane circled Timisoara International Airport for almost two hours, using up its fuel to avoid a potential fire before it landed on a bed of foam laid out by firefighters, officials said.

The Saab 2000 aircraft was carrying 47 passengers and four crew members on its flight from the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, to Timisoara, airport spokeswoman Carmen Stoica said.

The Emergency Inspectorate said at least 10 ambulances and three fire engines were waiting for the stricken plane.

Timisoara ambulance chief Iancu Leonida said there were no injuries, but people were very frightened.

"There are no injured people, although some might have minor scratches, but they are very scared and traumatized," he said. "They are being given medical care."

Realitatea TV broadcast footage of passengers hugging and kissing people who had come to meet them at the airport. One unidentified female passenger with gray hair and tears in her eyes told the TV the passengers did not know about the landing gear and had thought there was a problem with ice and fog.

The airport said the plane landed using only the main landing gear, on a 200-yard (200-meter) long bed of foam. The airport was closed for 2 1/2 hours Saturday morning after the incident.

Carpatair vice president Dan Andrei said that "when it landed, the plane came down on the side wheels; it braked sharply and at a low speed it came on its front belly, while the front landing gear remained stuck."




It was just days ago that a Turkish airlines B-737 literally fell out of the sky in Amsterdam. Most of the passengers walked away from that one, too. But the one two weeks ago in Buffalo was fatal to everyone on board.

Of course, the "grandaddy of them all" was the so-called Miracle on the Hudson back in January. We all know how that one turned out.

But what's going on here? Why the sudden spike in aviation disasters and near-misses?

For the period between August 27, 2006 to February 13, 2009...there were no major aircraft accidents in the United States. That's an extraordinary streak...much of it brought about by the professionalism and training of the flight crews, the high maintenence standards required by American Carriers, and the fact that despite the economy, most airlines in the US are flying fleets that are less than 10 years old.

But luck plays a huge role. Take, for example, the Continental plane that landed on the Hudson. Sure, the pilots did everything they could, but think about this. Mr. Sullenberg was an experienced glider pilot. The day was clear and calm, and air traffic was relatively light that day. The Hudson was as calm as a pond; no waves. Fleets of boats ply the river every day and were on hand literally within seconds.

Take away any of those factors, and you have a hard landing, a cracked fuselage, an immediate sinking, or a delayed rescue, and everyone could have just as easily perished.

Unfortunately, the aviation business, like so many other things, is cyclical. It's as safe as we can possibly make it, but one missed radio call, or a bad weather day, or even a midair computer glitch could lead to disaster.

We've been lucky for a long time. It's still safe to fly, safer than almost any other mode of travel on earth. By way of comparison, you probably rode in a car this week. Roughly 38,000 people are killed every year in fatal car accidents (about the same as 108 fully-loaded Boeing 747s). If that many people died in plane crashes every year, would there even be an aviation industry?


 

12 comments (Latest Comment: 03/01/2009 04:04:57 by livingonli)
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