http://news.yahoo.com/asiana-jet-partly-blame-california-crash-214221920.html
This story involves the crashing of the Korean Boeing 777 into San Francisco Airport earlier in 2013, and U.S. accident investigators pointed to the design flaws of the plane itself. It involved the malfunction of the automatic throttle, which is similar to the cruise control function in cars. The Asiana airlines refute the U.S. investigators claims of design flaws, and believe it was a error amongst their pilots. Regardless though, three people died in this crash, and one of the victims was tragically killed by a rescue vehicle that ran her over after the crash. It was true a tragic event, and it still seems that there is not one valid conclusion yet to the cause of this accident. Whether it was due to a design flaw, or simply an error by the pilot.
"Asiana Airlines acknowledged in documents released Monday that its pilots failed to correct their fatally slow approach to a landing at San Francisco International Airport but also blamed the maker of the jet, saying it did not automatically maintain a safe speed."
ReplyDeleteI don't know about you, but this remark frightens me. How can an airline company claim that the maker of a jet is at fault for a crash simply because an automatic system failed to function? Even if the modern pilot is essentially the glorified babysitter of a largely self-running machine, it is still his responsibility to check, check, and check again. To expand on the babysitter analogy, just because a child has been potty-trained does not mean that he or she will make it safely to the porcelain throne every time without fail. Are our automated super-machines making us lazy as pilots and controllers?
I agree actually, and I do look down on those who really don't take their jobs seriously. That's a good example actually, and if the pilot was looking after his own kid instead of a plane full of passengers he might have been more careful. It is scary, but plane crashes have been occurring for so long and some of the smartest people died from trying to improve the ideas of flight. It's really just a risky business in general, and you never know who is going to be at the controls of these planes. Hopefully these pilots of Asiana take from these experiences, and try to not let such accidents like this to ever occur again.
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