When Delta’s flight 4819, which went from Minneapolis to Toronto, landed in a violent accident that ripped a wing and turned the leg plane to the air, the Panic Curious feared the worst.
But Michael McCormick has seen decades of improvements in aircraft safety in action. All 80 people on board survived the accident on Monday at Pearson de Toronto International Airport.
“It was absolutely phenomenal that one can see a back plane and people get away from it,” says McCormick, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
“But my second thought was, well, this is the design. This is engineering. It is the years of research in civil aviation … that allowed something like this to happen.”
The wreckage of a Bombardier CRJ900 plane, operated by Delta Air Lines, are upside down on Tuesday on a track at Pearson de Toronto International Airport. Associated Press
Fuel deposits are stored mainly on wings
Past aviation disasters have taught experts that aircraft fuel should be stored mainly on wings and not directly under passengers.
“In the early days of aviation, that’s where it was stored – in the belly of the plane,” explains McCormick.
So when Delta’s Bombardier Crj900 drew on Monday, turned and skidded on the track, the right wing-laden fuel left, leaving behind huge hell. The plane continued to skid and overturned.
In this incident, the fact that the wing was released kept the fire outside the passenger cabin, explains Joe Jacobsen, an aerospace engineer who worked for Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Things may advance … But if they are within the project requirements, then you need to see how they have broken down and if they have been doing according to the project?” Says Jacobsen.
The wing may have been broken due to a maintenance or conception failure, adds Jacobsen. The investigation may examine these possibilities.
When a wing comes out completely due to an impact, the fact that it gets rid of potentially explosive fuel is just one of the benefits, McCormick says.
“We want to be able to separate the fuel from the passenger compartment and, at the same time, we want to ensure that the fuselage can be in a stable position,” says McCormick.
The plane turned out to be in a stable position – though from legs to the air. But everyone survived, in part, the robust seats that can stand extreme forces.
16G banks were designed for safety – not necessarily for comfort
Most modern commercial aircraft should have the so -called 16g seats, which means they can withstand 16 times the force of gravity, McCormick explains.
“We do not want the seats to break or loose in a plane crash – even if it is upside down,” he says.
“Therefore, it was not conceived specifically for comfort, but for durability” in case of accident, adds McCormick. “And this is known if you have been in economic more than a few hours.”
Banks include a humble but essential security characteristics: security belts that save lives.
In this case, “without seat belts, passengers would have certainly been thrown from side to side and would have suffered a lot more injuries,” says Hassan Shahidi, president and executive director of Flight Safety Foundation. “This was an important factor in this case.”
And if this accident had occurred a few decades ago, the result could have been much more black, according to CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz.
“What has changed is that all commercial planes have seats that are fixed on the gutters as part of the fuselage that can support up to 16 GS impact,” explains Goelz, former director general of the National Transportation Safety Board.
“This means that in an emergency landing like this, if we are correctly stuck, we will survive the impact and have an opportunity to escape,” he says.
“And when we combine this with the advances in the fire retarding material … we really have a good hypothesis of getting it if we follow the instructions.”
Nothing can replace qualified crew members
Although high -tech engineering has probably helped save lives, “it can never give sufficient credit to the cabinet crew through that plane’s safe evacuation,” says McCormick.
The two on-board assistants on this flight had never terrified an air plane to the air, says Sara Nelson, international president of the Vio Vio-Cwa Assistants Association. But the pair had been trained for many scenarios, including passenger evacuation in 90 seconds.
Although dozens of passengers are tied in their places and hanging, the crew managed to evacuate the entire plane in less than 90 seconds.
The onboard assistants “performed their functions perfectly. They were heroic,” says Nelson.
And “we hope this (do) the audience is more conscious and grateful for men and women who serve as onboard assistants,” adds McCormick.
“They are responsible for much more than taking garbage and serving soft drinks. They are trained professionals responsible for the safety of passengers. And they did a phenomenal job.”
