The Last Few Seconds - Part 3

 Disclaimer: The information below is based upon my simplified interpretation of Airlines disaster videos available on YouTube RL.

Singapore Airlines Video 

          

It was a dark and rainy night with very low visibility, when a Singapore Airlines plane went through the maze at a airport in Taiwan to reach the runway which was its take-off point. Actually there were two parallel runways next to each other and one was being repaired; there were cranes and other construction equipment sitting in the middle of one runway. The pilots of the plane gradually increased their speed to effect the take off. It was too late when they spotted the construction equipment ; the plane crashed into it causing the plane to break apart killing 64 occupants. The pilots had taken the wrong runway!! A warning sign or a blockage at the beginning of that runway where construction was being done could have saved all the lives !! Human error or fate ? That was the first plane accident in the spotless history of Singapore Airlines.

60 Minutes Video 

An Alaska Airlines plane lost part of its ‘wall’ (panel), adjacent to where the passengers were seated, mid-flight, several thousand feet up in the air. The flight landed safely a couple of hours later. The investigators found that four rivets that are used to bolt the panel were missing ! The news program 60 minutes did a special after this accident to highlight  the occasional compromises made in manufacturing.

A Japan Airlines (2013) Dreamliner  flight made an emergency landing because of smoke in the cockpit. Investigators found that the lithium iron batteries had a ‘meltdown’. If you had a Dell or HP laptop several years back these had a similar problem with overheating due to lithium iron batteries! 

The pilot of an Emirates flight entered the wrong weight of the plane while configuring the takeoff. Therefore the software suggested the wrong wing flaps settings based on this reduced weight. The tail half of the plane refused to lift causing the tail to screech against the runway creating sparks as the plane raced for takeoff ! 

Another plane’s rudder got stuck in one position causing the plane to tilt in one direction. The pilot and his first officer had to struggle with all their might to hold the plane horizontal. They made an emergency landing with the plane tilted in one direction without losing any life. The Investigators found that the cap of the hydraulic system that controlled the movement of the rudder was broken causing the hydraulic fluid to leak and therefore no amount of pressure from the pilot could move the rudder!  A small part controlled the lives of the occupants of that plane.

A small L shaped sensor  at the front of another Boeing plane below the cockpit was covered with ice when flying through cold weather. It sent erroneous information to the software called MCAS that controls the angle at which the plane flies. It calculated the angle higher than at which the plane was flying.Therefore the plane did a nosedive disregarding the input of the pilot. Design oversight and too much automation obviously!!