Here’s something that might surprise you: airplanes are actually the safest transportation vehicles. From a statistical standpoint, they have the fewest number of malfunctions and the fewest recorded number of deaths when compared to the other modes of transportation.
The reason for this is, of course, there are only fewer people who traveled in planes compared to those that choose to travel in buses, trains, ships, and any other huge passenger-carrying vehicles. But still, even if we are going to calculate it through percentages, traveling via planes is actually the safest way to travel. If you doubt that, we should hear it from Superman… he said it many times in his movies.
Okay, that’s a lame way to actually confirm a fact. But if you doubt this information, you can conduct your own research and for sure, you’d arrive at the conclusion that planes are really… the safest transportation vehicles of all. But in spite of the safety that planes bring, they could still crash. In this article, let us understand the reasons why they do. Let’s investigate about 3 of the worst aviation disasters in history.
The SAA and BOAC Plane Crash Incidents
BOAC 783 Crash : May 2, 1953
BOAC 781 Crash : January 10, 1954
SAA 228 Crash : April 20, 1968
As three of the worst flight disasters in history, these tragedies were primarily by 2 main factors: the metal fatigue that happened outside the cabin, and the depressurization of the cabin itself, which led to the same event in the fuselage. For BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) Flight 781 and BOAC Flight 783, the analysis of the flight engineers that examined the debris and wreckage were under the conclusion that metal fatigue was the initial trouble that gave too much stress for the airplane’s cabin area.
Technical Factors That Caused the Accidents
It was stated that upon the construction of those planes, the trend during that time was fusing plane alloys together were done using metal rivets instead of special metal glue, which became the norm for modern airplanes because metal rivets do not give a kind of air-tight insulation that metal glue can, it led to a shaking and vibration motion for the front area of the plane which eventually broke down the main structure of the entire aerial vehicle.
The metal fatigue findings were further reinforced by the idea that there was a repeated occurrence of pressurization and depressurization that took place on the aircraft cabin. Such an incessant movement of those metals fused together only rivets led to a devastating blow on the overall structure of the plane which resulted in that in-flight breakup that killed all passengers on board.
Why the depressurization issue was strongly hinted at and supported by other investigators as well is that the passengers of those planes were shown to have fractured skulls and severely injured lungs. It was also found out that there is a great likelihood that the passengers bump into the plane’s ceiling which would explain why most of the passengers have fractured skulls.
How The Investigators View The Causes
When investigators looked into the area where the rivets are on the plane using a microscope, it can be observed that metal fatigue did happen due to the inappropriate construction of the plane in accordance with the speed that it’s meant to execute on the flight. While such a construction method would be good enough for slower planes, it would not be able to handle such stress since the planes were designed to be faster and more maneuverable than the ones that came before them.
In the case of the SAA (South African Airways) 295 disaster, metal fatigue was still the primary cause though the square-shaped windows were indicated to be one of the main caused that destabilized the plane’s integrity during the plane’s transit moment. It can be observed that SAA was at a higher altitude compared to the 2 BOAC planes, being 35,000 feet before it totally broke off. BOAC 783 broke off at 7,500 while 781 was at 27,000 ft. They have different levels of aerial paths but the main reason was the same: metal fatigue.
Conclusion
What led to the difficulty of finding out what really happened is the absence of cockpit voice recorders of those planes. Had they been there upon the construction of the plane, a much better assessment would have been made. There is a great indication that the speed by which the turbines propel the plane does not match the robustness of the plane.
It can be observed that in aviation, greater speed causes more drag, and when more drag occurs, greater stress on the structure of a moving vehicle will be compromised. Although the pressurization capabilities of BOAC planes during that time were considered to be more than enough during that time, how the planes’ hulls and alloys here fused together were just not enough to handle such a kind of physical strain.
The controls and processes for an aircraft to take flight must comply with the specifications of International Aviation Organisations, such as IATA, ICAO, FAA, laws and regulations of the contracting states of aeronautics, which is why it is the safest way to travel. Obviously, when an air incident or accident happens, its magnitude is considerable due to its passenger seating capacity.