AVIATION MISTAKES!

 

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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