Bash2cool

Join Date 08/2004

What is wrong with these planes!!!!

I'm really mad that this summer, a lot of plane crashing has been goin' on!

i discided to wrote summit this post after i read the post (121 people die in plane crash in Greece...a sad day for the whole nation.)

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PLANES!? Don't u think that at least 1 plane crash is enough? Seeing all those poor people die.... the families crying...all those children...It's been a bad summer for those who lost those families or even more.

don't u think they need to train pilots how to handle a plane a little better? or at least make a rule that says that people to drink or do drugs can't handle a plane?

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NightTrainthedark

Join Date 07/2003

+255

Don't let the media play with your fears.

Probability of being killed in an airplane accident vs. other causes of death

Your chances of being involved in an aircraft accident are about 1 in 11 million. On the other hand, your chances of being killed in an automobile accident are 1 in 5000. Statistically, you are at far greater risk driving to the airport than getting on an airplane. However, the perception is that you have more control over your fate when you are in your car than as a passenger. Experience shows otherwise considering that over 50,000 people are killed on the highways every year.

Negative bias

Media coverage would suggest that such events happen daily. Studies have shown one would have to fly once a day every day for over 15,000 years in order to statistically be involved in an aircraft accident! Yet stories of aircraft accidents are between 150 to 200 times more likely to receive front-page coverage than other more common causes of death. Consequently, fearful flyers develop a negative bias toward flying. That is, they will bias their perception to notice those events and experiences that support their fears. Those fears become validated by the continual bombardment of information related to airline safety following an accident. Who can forget the horrifying coverage of the airplanes flying into the World Trade Center on 9/11 replayed over and over until the major networks agreed it served no purpose to replay the events?

The Truth
Airplane disasters and plane crash statistics make for more dramatic, "eye-catching" newsprint. Not nearly enough information is printed on aircraft safety and because disasters seem to be more newsworthy to the public, the media is naturally attracted to the financially acceptable print and naturally it is LARGE PRINT in these cases.

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...train pilots how to handle a plane a little better?

I don't believe it's the pilots at fault, as the training to fly a commercial jetliner does not happen in a weekend. It takes months and months to earn the right/ability to fly one of those big cigars.

Personally, I think a lot of the airliners themselves are somewhat jaded, and are [more] prone to malfunction.

Having said that though, I agree with what Night Train says up there. You have more chance of being squashed by a bus whilst crossing the street.

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Another crash today in Venezuela with 160 aboard. Those odds are getting smaller lately. I agree with Eric on the airliners themselves being somewhat jaded.

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I agree with all that Master Apprentice Night Train has said...but it's always sad to listen that a plane crashed. The thing about planes is that the chances to survive a crash are very limited. Also another thing is that the more people are on-board a vehicle the more might die. In the recent plane crash of a Cypriot Airliner in Greece at least 5 whole families where lost,and that is the least to say tragic. Considering pilots training pilots are very carefully chosen and it's not an easy profession. Pilots are trained to handle a plane,even in crisis situation. Considering the matter of airplane maintenance,that is something each and every airliner company must seriously think,cause it is people's lives at stake. The Helios airliner is due to procecusion for neglige and avoiding proper maintenance if it is proven that the specific aircraft didn't go through all the proper checks,cause it came up to surface that the airplane had problems of very similar nature in the past. Yet right now i don't think of these things...my thought are with my friends who lost family members,my thoughs are with my friend who tonight is sleeping without parents...

Pain and grief has spread all around...

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It's the feeding frenzy that the media is prone to have quite frequently.

It isn't that there are more plane crashes, shark bites, bank robberies, etc., it's just the media realizing they 'hit' on a popular story, so they focus on similar stories for a while until the next 'big' story comes along to start a new feeding frenzy and so on and so on ...

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But don't u guys think that a lot of plane crshing has been goin' on here?

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But don't u guys think that a lot of plane crshing has been goin' on here?

I concur, it does seem that recently there have been more than the normal for any given period.

Have been wondering... if these were not due to pilot error or plane malfunction or weather.... then what? Terrorist attacks of a form? I don't know. Most attacks that make the media also have claims of 'i/we did it' to go with it. If any were made, they might possibly be suppressed out of an attempt to keep that industry from being crippled. But they would still leak out to the public. So I'm not sure that's it.

I thinking more probably it's the planes themselves, that it is plane malfunction. Given the number and lengths of flights, coupled with the stress of take-off and landing, that any given commercial plane makes... they're bound to crap out eventually.

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Bash2cool: yes, I agree with you. Too many in quite a short timespan.

Maybe checking up on who the passengers were may give
some hint of if there was something else beyond plain
accidents.

Today you have to do all checking up on things like that
yourself since the media will not do that anymore =\

I would start checking the flight lists for politicians,
security related people, military contractors, journalists etc.

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WebGizmos

Join Date 09/2003

+735

Another 152 just died in in a plane crash Venezuela.

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But don't u guys think that a lot of plane crshing has been goin' on here?

Not any more than usual, just more reporting of such; putting the issue on the typical news viewer's radar which leads to statements such as yours.

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

Airlines' flying stock is aging...as we all do.

Maintenance, as with all expenses, becomes a 'commercial consideration' so aircraft are neither maintained, nor replaced as frequently as 'should' occur.

In Oz we had 'Ansett airlines'....went bust...a lot of people lost work, etc...but it was actually a GOOD THING. Ansett was one of the 'oldest commercial carriers'...in that their 'fleet' was past its use-by date, and, strapped for cash, corners were being cut.

Now that they are folded many of their aircraft are 'rusting' in the Mojave desert...and rightly so.

If you compare notes....Qantas has the world's best safety record of all the carriers.....turns a profit, but the FAA is having to stamp its feet to get them to not 'slacken' their maintenance regimen.

My father worked 30 years in Flight Service [like ATC] and has some 'fun' tales to tell.....like the QF Jumbo that landed in Sydney with tree branches in its undercarriage......

He personally prevented a 'mid-air' through noticing a radar error....usually a near-miss is measured in miles...this was a case of the 2 pilots being able to wave to each other.

Over the past decades flying has become more affordable but the aircraft costlier to replace. Those two factors make 'incidents' more common, not less.

As to comparative 'safety' of travel modes....that's usually calculated as 'passenger miles', not 'trips', so, like any statistic it can be redefined to suit whatever you wish.

I haven't seen a stat that counts the number of plane flights in a year multiplied by passenger count divided by fatality compared to vehicle trips ditto. The comparison then may be less favourable towards flight.

It's a bit like the claim that cycling is healthier...even though you are breathing in car fumes....the car driver actually gets more as he cannot escape the vehicle....sounds good until you factor in crash 'survivability'...example...I've had 2 cars written-off from under me and managed one stiff-neck....bicycles have hospitalized me 3 times....

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starkers

Join Date 05/2004

+1153

Bash...your title says it all! Pilots stand to lose their lives if their plane comes down other than as intended, so they do everything in their power to avert such tragedies. Chances are that these recent crashes were due to technical failure, and hopefully, not as a result of terrorist intervention. In any event, it is truly sad that so many lost their lives or loved ones in these horrific crashes that the media all too often sensationalise for the sake of dollars.

bicycles have hospitalized me 3 times....

Yes, me too! One incident left me hospitalised after being forced off the road by someone who obviously got their license in a circus (mongrel never stopped, either)....3 years and 136 fractures later, I managed to walk out with great pain and difficulty under my own steam. Yep, planes are much safer than ground transport by far

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thomassen

Join Date 01/2003

+10

I still feel safer flying than on the road in a car or motorbike.

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don't u think they need to train pilots how to handle a plane a little better? or at least make a rule that says that people to drink or do drugs can't handle a plane?

Are you trippin? Today's commercial pilots are overtrained. Most legacy airlines have expert pilots. They know their jobs mighty well! About them drinking or taking drugs this is ridiculous. (at least in the US)

I still feel safer flying than on the road in a car or motorbike.

Yep. Airways are the safest. You're much less likely to meet loons up there.

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don't u think they need to train pilots how to handle a plane a little better? or at least make a rule that says that people to drink or do drugs can't handle a plane?

nope... these people train for months before they have a chance to get into the cockpit of one of those huge airliners, and they are trained as much as they possibly can be trained. But like learning how to drive a car, you can learn all you want and 'prepare' yourself for any kind of situation, but when something unexpected happens, you're still just as prone to accidents.

Or take NASA for example. You won't find anywhere else in the world where the pilots are trained more rigorously; however, if you look at their track record, they statistically would be crashing or blowing up more than a space shuttle a day if they were launching space shuttles at the rate of a single airline company from a single airport. But none of these explosions in the past have been due to drunken pilots, etc.

Of course, its not that I don't feel for all the lives lost on these airline crashes recently, but do what you can, we just can prevent these chance occurrences.

Your chances of being involved in an aircraft accident are about 1 in 11 million. On the other hand, your chances of being killed in an automobile accident are 1 in 5000. Statistically, you are at far greater risk driving to the airport than getting on an airplane. However, the perception is that you have more control over your fate when you are in your car than as a passenger. Experience shows otherwise considering that over 50,000 people are killed on the highways every year.

It's true. If you're going anywhere, you can almost be assured that nothing out of the ordinary will happen on a plane, whereas in an automobile, an accident that is fatal or results in serious injury occurs in the U.S. every 10 minutes. In your lifetime, chances are that most likely you yourself will be involved in a serious car accident. Its the rarity of airplane crashes that attracts the breaking news headlines, but you hardly ever hear of car accidents unless it is something really big or unusual. So if you're thinking of flying, go right ahead, and you can be sure that it's much safer than driving to the local supermarket.

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I agree with everyone here that the pilots are not the cause of these tragedies. If there's someone to blame it's probably the companies that keep the pilots flying as close to 100% as possible so they can make more money. But honestly, have you ever seen a map of the US that shows the typical amount of air traffic that is flying at any one time. Yes, there have been seemingly more crashes lately but we're only going to hear about the ones with problems as I doubt news agencies will start carrying news of every successfully landed flight in the world. Let's face it, the typical news stories revolve around death and the like because *that* is what get's people to tune in..

Speaking of car accidents, I can agree with the statements made by Halluci having recently been rear-ended on my way home from work. I wasn't too bad for me but you should have seen the BMW 325i that got hit by the Ford F-350. It was a good 3 feet shorter!

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