The Concord Accident - Report Example

The Concorde 4950 Accident The Concorde 4590 accident that occurred in the year 2000 is one of the most serious and controversial air accidents in the world. The Air France Flight 4590 was headed for New York City when the accident happened a few minutes after take-off. The accident resulted into untimely death of 109 passengers on board and four more people on the ground after it failed to fly in the air and collided with a hotel. An analysis of the cause of the fateful accidents resulted into disagreements and a long controversy. While some people found that the cause of the accident was a tyre burst that led engine failure, an after-accident investigation showed that the aero plane was overweight and that one of the engines was shut-off. While the court found that the airline was responsible for the failure of the plane, there are those who still believe that the crash happened as a result of the fire. However, there is enough evidence that the crash occurred due to poor maintenance and overloading, which was a direct responsibility of the airliner. Therefore, the crash of the Concorde was a sign of laxity and ignorance within the airline industry, which many times result into loss of life and property. From one side, the cause of the air crash was the fire that burnt the engine resulting to instability. As the airplane approached the take-off speed, it was hit by a thin metal strip that caused its tyre to burst. The metal strip belonged to a Continental airline that had left moment before the Concorde took-off. The pieces of burst tyre struck the fuel tank, resulting into a puncture, and the engine gases ignited the fuel that was already leaking from the tank. As a result, there was fire and it spread quickly due to the high flammability of the fuel. Although the pilot crew struggled to maintain the plane on the air, the Concorde lost its balance slammed into a hotel. As a result, 100 passengers, 9 cabin crews and 4 people on the ground died, while others on the ground suffered serious injuries (Chowdhury 12-15). Those who witnessed the accidents claim that the cause of the air plane crash was the metal strip that caused the tyre to burst and hence the fire. Therefore, the Concorde crash was an accident that the airline would not have prevented. On the other hand, an investigation on the conditions of the airplane after the accident shows that a number of other factors would have caused the plane to crash. First, a velocity analysis shows that the Concorde was moving at a lower speed, as compared to its design parameters. Secondly, at the time of the take-off, the flight was several tons heavier that the expected weight of the flight. Thirdly, one of the airplane engines was shut-off, which was erroneous under normal conditions (Owen 12-24). The reason why the plane was at lower speed is because one of the gears was badly repaired and this would have resulted into skidding. Therefore, the pilot, Marty, pulled the jet into the air to avoid collision with other aircrafts in case of skidding. One of the cockpit engineers shut off one engine, which was an error as the plane needed enough power to fly. As a result, the flight lacked enough power to cruise on and hence slammed the hotel (Owen 89). The fact that the Concorde was 6 tons heavier than its normal weight prevented the plane from rising into the air before reaching the metal strip. From this dimension, the failure of the aircraft can be blamed on the ignorance of safety issues concerning repair, weight, and engine control. Issues of safety in air flights are a matter that is given a lot of attention in the industry as a measure to ensure that the public are guaranteed of safety when they use air travel. Every airline company is allowed to ensure that the design of their planes is safe to ensure that safety is maintained (Hessami 99-112). Besides the design, the maintenance of the airplane is an important issue to ensure that the plane is in perfect condition before starting its journey. This is one of the issues that the Concorde airline company ignored as the evidence for a faulty repair indicates. Secondly, every airline is bound to have competent professional who can make the right decisions during the journey. Evidence that the cockpit engineer shut down one of the engines is a sign unprofessional conduct. Therefore, airline did not have competent engineers who could guarantee safety for the passengers on board the Concorde. Also, every airline company must ensure that they carry the recommended weight to avoid instability that may result to an air crash. However, the Air France Flight 4590 carried weight that exceeds the normal capacity showing that there was no weight check before the start of the journey. Therefore, the airline company was at a fault for lack of competent personnel and ignorance of maintenance and weight requirements. From a personal analysis, the Concorde Accidents was a case of negligence and wrong decision making. While some think that the plane crashed as a result of collision with the metal strip, it is clear that if the weight was well checked, such an accident would not have happened. Again, since the metal strip was dropped by another plane, there was need for the airline run away maintenance to clear the way before the Concorde took-off. Therefore, ignoring to clear the way contributed to the occurrence of the accident. Although all the personnel in the Concorde were certified and had adequate experience, they failed to make the right decision when the shut the engine when the place required power to fly away. Therefore, the accident occurred leading to the death of many, majority of who were German tourists (Seddon 237-244). From this perspective, it is crucial for all airline companies to focus on safety as a priority for their flights to guarantee the public with safety while travelling. The Air Flight safety institution should ensure that all airline companies comply to safety standard as they seek license to operate such companies. Strict implementation of safety measures will ensure that all companies remain active in ensuring that their customers and employees are safe (Davidson and Labib, 207-216). This way, it is possible to reduce air accidents that contribute to loss of life in the world. In conclusion, the Concorde Accident of 2000 is one of the serious air crashes that showed the negative impact of safety negligence. The death of over a hundred members of public was serious consequence of the air crash. While one side of interpretation shows that the result of the air crash was due to fire that resulted after the Concorde hit a metal strip, it is clear that safety issues were ignored before the take-off. Investigations show that the Concorde was overloaded, lacked adequate maintenance and that poor decisions were made by the crew. Ignoring safety measures resulted to the death of many people and injury of others something that could have been prevented. To ensure that there is enough safety, the air companies should consider all factors before the departure of any flight. Regular maintenance of the Aircraft, avoiding over loading and engagement of well trained workers will improve service delivery. Preventing accidents will make sure that the public are safe while using air travel, which will improve the industry. Ensuring safety will improve business in the Air Flight industry as more people will feel safe to use Flight as a means of transport. Works Cited Chowdhury, Subir. Design for six sigma. Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2002. Print Davidson, G. G., and A. W. Labib. "Learning from failures: design improvements using a multiple criteria decision-making process." Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering 217.4 (2003): 207-216. Hessami, A. G. "A systems framework for safety and security: the holistic paradigm." Systems engineering 7.2 (2004): 99-112. Owen, David. Air accident investigation. Patrick Stephens Limited, 2006. Print Owen, Kenneth. Concorde: Story of a supersonic pioneer. University of Michigan Press, 2001. Print Seddon, C. M., et al. "Preliminary analysis of fuel tank impact." International journal of crashworthiness 9.3 (2004): 237-244. Read More