As if we didn't have enough to worry about with terrorism, now we have to worry about the condition of the planes that we're flying in.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23940276/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23940276/
Is It Safe To Fly?
- Thread starter MJS
- Start date
Just a few years ago, SW airlines was being touted as the model of the new lean-mean-profit machine phase of airline travel, with service stripped down to the bone, prices reduced to improve market share, and so on and on and on... and now this...
... and don't even ask about the wiring-inpection mess....
... and don't even ask about the wiring-inpection mess....
Sounds like most airlines are having major problems lately.
Steel Tiger
Senior Master
And its not just internal airlines either. Recently QANTAS has had two planes stopped from take off because of maintenance issues. Their reliability record has been going downhill ever since they outsourced their maintenance in the early '90s (I think).
I'm pretty sure the wiring inspection mess Exile alluded to was ultimately a result of outsourced maintenance as well.
I'm pretty sure the wiring inspection mess Exile alluded to was ultimately a result of outsourced maintenance as well.
QANTAS??! Whoa, things are dire, as the Living Tribunal would say... QANTAS was always one of the very, very, very safest airlines on the planet. If they're having trouble... be afraid. Be very afraid....
It's a natural progression of allowing unadulturated profit motive, share-holders and bean-counters come together in an unholy trinity. Passenger deaths are part and parcel of an economic equation. Private enterprise is geared towards generating money, not keeping the users of a service alive ... unless it is more profitable to do so.
Big Don
Sr. Grandmaster
It is safe to fly. All of us know someone who has been in a car accident, yet, we still drive. Very few of us know anyone who has been in a plane crash. Planes crashing make big news because of the "If it bleeds it leads" modality of the news. Cars crash everyday in nearly every city and town, if planes crashed at the same rate, no one would fly...
That's possibly because most car accidents leave the high proportion of participants alive whereas a failure of airworthiness has a distressingly high propensity to end in death for all concerned.
I wasn't being glib or anti-anything in my post above Don - remember, I'm a qualified economist and have been taught how to structure these equations. I can assure you that passenger survival of a flight only becomes an issue if the financial costs dictate it.
I wasn't being glib or anti-anything in my post above Don - remember, I'm a qualified economist and have been taught how to structure these equations. I can assure you that passenger survival of a flight only becomes an issue if the financial costs dictate it.
Big Don
Sr. Grandmaster
Most of that has to do with altitude. If cars crashed from thousands of feet in the air, the crashes would have more fatalities and a major "HOLY CRAP" factor...
Not to mention people wondering just how the hell they got up there in the first place.....
newGuy12
Master of Arts
Bah! Who cares? The planes are still safe enough. The biggest problem with flying is putting up with all of the security nonsense. Once you are actually on the plane, everybody strap in and kick that suX0r in the rear end... get down that runway!
w000000!!! Baby! Acceleration! That's what I like to feel! Nothing is perfectly safe.
What's more, remember, nowadays there are a LOT more commercial flights! A LOT! And, the Air Traffic Control People -- NOT an easy job -- they are overworked. That right there causes more concern to me than ill-maintained planes. I saw something on the tv about it. They compared the density of incoming planes at a airport now against the same traffic some years before. Nowadays, planes were coming in like crazy, this way and that way -- as much as could be handled!
w000000!!! Baby! Acceleration! That's what I like to feel! Nothing is perfectly safe.
What's more, remember, nowadays there are a LOT more commercial flights! A LOT! And, the Air Traffic Control People -- NOT an easy job -- they are overworked. That right there causes more concern to me than ill-maintained planes. I saw something on the tv about it. They compared the density of incoming planes at a airport now against the same traffic some years before. Nowadays, planes were coming in like crazy, this way and that way -- as much as could be handled!
Statistically, air travel is safe. We have what, 1, 2? plane crashes a year in the US. Problem is, an aging airfleet, way overdue for inspections, withajor cost cutting in effect. This means, it's getting less safe, unless they do perform the required safety inspections.
Empty Hands
Senior Master
Don't forget the recent report on the increase in near-misses over the last few years. Maybe the wiring won't be what kills ya! 
But they'd be KEWL!!!
Talk about some wild crash scenes to work... Volvo parts spread out over an acre or two...
Here's one way it could happen...
ROFL!
THere is also a JATO.
THere is also a JATO.
Just found this http://www.planecrashinfo.com/
Has alot of information, I'm still skimming through it....
Has alot of information, I'm still skimming through it....
Ah, this shows info per airline, and last reported accident.
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm
You aren't necessarily safe with planes on the ground, either... not pretty to imagine what somene grilling sausages on their back deck would look like with a wing panel landing on their heads after a free fall from 30,000 feet up (as per the U.S. Air flight that, yes, lost a wing panel at that height a couple of weeks ago...)
