That is the clearest video I've seen of it. I agree, a miracle.
I wonder if after seeing that anyone will still question whether or not seatbelts save lives.
Quote from: DaveBrown74 on February 18, 2025, 06:11:35 PMDoes anyone actually really question that? I can't think of a single example of hearing or reading someone actually raise doubt as to whether you're safer in a car or plane with your seatbelt on versus off.
Jeff,
These days, I don't think there is much debate. There was a time, though, when things like the efficacy of seatbelts were questioned. Hell, I can remember when people questioned if cigarette smoking was hazardous to your health. Circling back to seatbelts, those who opposed them often cite some rare occurrence where not wearing a seatbelt saved their life. In my nearly 35 years of EMS experience, almost everyone was or would have been better off wearing a seatbelt. That said, there was one crash where the driver wasn't belted and was thrown around the cabin of his pickup and the crash caused the steering will to touch the back of the seat. In that case, not wearing his belt likely saved his life (he actually walked away from the accident (in handcuffs because he had been running from the police).
As for smoking, I can remember as a kid sitting in the barbershop and some guy citing his 90-year-old grandfather, who lived to 90, smoking a pack a day.
Far too often people will use the exception to make a rule.
I wanted to see if there was an update on the crash, only to find out there is a new plane crash
https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1892269208978829807
Quote from: MightyGiants on February 19, 2025, 01:43:26 PMI wanted to see if there was an update on the crash, only to find out there is a new plane crash
https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1892269208978829807
Hi Rich
@MightyGiants .
About this crash which occurred outside of Tucson:
Marana Plane Crash (https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/19/us/arizona-plane-crash-marana/index.html)
Marana is a pretty desert bedroom community west of the city of Tucson which has been building up, over the last couple of decades, and has a regional airport for small commuter aircraft (e.g. Cessnas). The airport does not even have a watch tower. It was an unfortunate accident.
To your question, about why so many reports on plane crashes and incidents, after the deaths of 346 innocent people on two of Boeing's 737-MAX plane crashes, and the handling of those incidents by my leaders, at the time, the entire faith and in the flying community was shaken, and rightly so, by a plane manufacturer which, up to then, had a glowing reputation for its Commercial Airplanes. Once the news, and the government finally had enough and dug in, the lies, shortcuts and backdoor deals made with the FAA, all in the name of greed and the shareholders (NOTE: the company was buying back its own stock, instead of reinvesting for IR&D, for crying out loud!!!), the good name of William Boeing was now riddled with dirt, as well as blood on his hands. Don't ask me any additional questions about this crisis in confidence as I cannot talk about it and, besides, I do not work in the Commercial business.
Now, you have these "gumshoes" out there filming every plane in the air and waiting for something to go awry. These issues and accidents had been going on for years; however, they never received national/international attention, at moment's notice, as they are receiving today. Also, with these rookie reporters posting near-real-time events, as they are literally unfolding before your very eyes, and sensationalizing them before gathering all the facts, it creates a waterfall effect in the public's eye as well.
Finally, to the question regarding whether it is safer to fly versus drive a car, a very quick research on Google came up with the following numbers and it isn't even close:
Statistical comparison
The odds of dying in a commercial plane crash are about 1 in 11 million, while the odds of dying in a car accident are roughly 1 in 101.
It is the number of reports of plane crashes, coupled with near-misses and other anomalies being reported, which give the impression the two might be closer than actuality.
It is important to consider the following factors when discussing aircraft safety:
- Volume of aircraft in flight, at any given point in time, is greater today than ever before, and is growing with each passing day
- Air Traffic Control systems and procedures are becoming antiquated, if they are not already, when it comes to managing increasing volumes of aircraft in the vicinity of airports
- The requirements capacity for "Available" and "Rested" qualified and certified pilots/co-pilots has been pushed to, and sometimes beyond the limits of the pilots themselves.
- Airlines are pushing the number of operation hours past planned preventive maintenance, checks and services in order to maximize revenue.
- Training is NOT equal for pilots outside the USA.
Like the rest of our infrastructures in this country, those for flight are being pushed to their absolute limits as well. When this happens, greater risk of anomalies and failures tend to occur.
The hope is, when something does go wrong, people in the game can point to someone else and say it's THEIR fault. But the truth is that malfunctions, crashes and deaths are rarely tied directly to one root cause. As is usually the case, it is a "perfect storm" of failure effects coming to pass in a certain sequence, over time, which brings the cataclysmic failures, often resulting in deaths, to the forefront. Even for those who never laid a finger on the Engineering, Production, Testing or Verification of an Airplane, before the FAA issues its PC700 certificate, we all feel a tremendous burden on our hearts and souls for those 346 people. We feel greater burden for their families and their grief. We can only promise them that we will do everything in our power to ensure that an event, such as the ones which took their loved ones away from them, will never, ever, happen again as long as we are in control of our Engineering decisions, Production decisions and full transparency with our regulators.
Those previous decision makers are gone. Those who now make the decisions do so from a position of humility, not arrogance. It's still not perfect. It never will be perfect. I've seen it all throughout my 29 years in the company, albeit on the Defense and Space side, but I hold myself no less accountable.
It was a company I once took great pride in. A company with a tradition which helped make this country great. It took an incident of that magnitude to destroy 100+ years of goodness. For the remainder of my career, I will work my heart and soul to try to lay the groundwork in restoring that goodness so future generations may once again return the company to where it belongs.
People should NOT be afraid to fly. It is one of the most magnificent experiences a human being will ever experience in their life. We are simply NOT SUPPOSED to fly with the birds! But thanks to William Boeing, the concept of human flight became a delight to the human fancy that forever changed mankind's thoughts about flight, and all the possibilities that could arise from it.
We must, as a nation, DO BETTER and THINK FORWARD to reimagine flight into the 21st century and beyond.
Peace!