AVIATION MISTAKES!
So, you like to fly!
Man has always liked the idea of flight. After all, birds make flight
seem so “effortless!”
But it was not til the late 1800’s and into early 1900, that flying
became a reality. The technical information that needed to be
gathered and learned in order for “machines” to fly was huge.
There were many mistakes made, and corrections also had to be
made. There were also people killed trying to do what is not
natural for humans! Some mistakes and lessons are not
survivable!
My father flew one of the first Bi-Wing planes that was sold in
Norway. He used the plane along with a friend as a quicker way to
travel to Germany from Norway for his ladies-wear
manufacturing business in Oslo.
When I returned home from my stint in the US Army, I followed
suit, and purchased a Cessna 150 in which I learned to fly, first as
a Private Pilot, and later receiving my Commercial Certificate for
Single Engine Land aircraft.
Recently, I happened to see an hour-long documentary on You
Tube regarding the DC-10. It was the first of several craft that
were large in stature and were to change aviation, drastically. But,
there was competition between Mc Donnell Douglas, Boeing and
one other company. Each had a large plane under development
and they were all in a hurry to get THEIR product to market
FIRST!
The DC-10 made it and was first. The major airlines could not wait
to buy and place DC-10’s into service. In the process of quick
development, there were shortcuts made, some were minor and
others became catastrophic in nature. Sound familiar?
The DC-10 had a cargo door that was manufactured “backwards.”
It opened OUT instead of IN, which most doors on pressurized
aircraft do. In one spectacular accident, the Cargo Door blew
OUT, causing fast decompression. The floor separating the
passenger compartment from the cargo area also blew out and
the control cables between the cockpit and the elevators on the
tail were severed. The plane became uncontrollable, but
because there was plenty of altitude, the captain was able to use
the engines to steer the plane and made a spectacular landing
back at the originating airport of Detroit. The NTSB, which
investigated the matter, discovered the problem, and made
recommendations regarding how to fix this permanently.
The trouble is the NTSB has no enforcement ability.
The FAA, which is charged with airplane safety did nothing.
As a result, NOTHING WAS DONE.
This is how government works!
A couple years later, the same thing happened again, this time in
Paris, France. But the results then were different. The plane had
the SAME PROBLEM, but the accident happened at a much
lower altitude and the captain was unable to level the plane in
time and all passengers and crew aboard died. Investigation
showed the SAME PROBLEM as on the earlier flight.
This turned out to be the most deadly aviation disaster up to
that time.
The result was also deadly for Mc Donnell Douglass. There was a
blizzard of lawsuits filed and the company ended up paying out
millions in compensation. What damned the aircraft
manufacturer, was the “smoking gun,” a memo from one
company official mentioning that the current design would
eventually result in a catastrophic failure! It was buried! Th
e result was that Mc Donnell Douglass went broke and the
company was sold to Boeing! How well I remember that story!
This is what happens when short-cuts are made, corporate greed
runs amok, and good old common sense goes out the window!
Fast forward to today. So far, Boeing has had two catastrophic
failures on door-plugs on its recent planes which resulted in the
planes being grounded! Apparently, Boeing, in its quest for the
dollar on the bottom line, is not as particular about safety as they
seem, either! No only that, they HAVE LEARNED NOTHING
FROM THE PROBLEMS ON THE DC-10!! I know people who
have worked for and retired from Boeing, and their comments are
not always reassuring…….
It is not just aircraft manufacturers that are a problem. The same
thing is found in automobile and medical fields. Stuff is being
hurriedly pushed and sold without all the safety checks in place.
Remember the “warp-speed” racket with the COVID “vaccine?”
As before, nothing happens till disaster strikes again and enough
publicity is generated to FORCE REASON TO PREVAIL!
It is always like that. WHEN YOU LEAVE YOUR WELFARE TO
OTHERS, YOU TAKE YOUR LIFE IN YOUR OWN HANDS…..
Written by
Harald Hesstvedt Scharnhorst
Photographs as credited. Photo of Bi-Wing Airplane taken by
an unknown photographer.
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