Plane crash in Madrid

[The-Sir]

Its hard to imagine all those lives that have just been taken away like that. Horrible, horrible way to go.

[Agt Provocateur]

The MD was a problem in the 80's with crashes, let alone now. I totally agree they'll start to get phased out very soon. Someone at the airport sounds to me like they're for the high jump though, if reports the pilot wasn't happy with the left engine earlier in the afternoon are to be believed.

[tokyojoe]

Originally Posted by Agt Provocateur I wouldn't worry, Qantas are the safest airline in history.

True, but the've just had to ground six 737-400s for maintenance record 'discrepencies'.

[tokyojoe]

Originally Posted by Agt Provocateur The MD was a problem in the 80's with crashes, let alone now. I totally agree they'll start to get phased out very soon. Someone at the airport sounds to me like they're for the high jump though, if reports the pilot wasn't happy with the left engine earlier in the afternoon are to be believed.

Nothing wromg with them if the're maintained properly. Like any aircraft, as they get older the're resold or leased out to operators who's maintainance standards may be a bit lacking. Don't know too much about Spanair, but the're owned by SAS who have an excellent record. SAS have been trying to flog them though.

[Redder Lurtz]

Copy & paste this into Excel:

Deaths in Plane Crashes

Year Deaths

1998 630
1999 278
2000 777
2001 604
2002 971
2003 947
2004 286
2005 927
2006 561
2007 580
2008 247


It's a slight downward trend overall but in the main it's pretty consistent. At least a couple of times a year there's be a hundered or so killed in an aircrash. It's a fact I'm particularly well fucking chuffed about seeing as I have to get on one of those fucking things a week tomorrow and fly at 500 miles an hour for 4 and a half hours at 30,000 bastard feet. Fan fucking tastic.

[Agt Provocateur]

Those figures are ultimately twisted though RedderLurtz. Over the course of a year, the vast majority of crashes come from dodgy Del Boy airlines in places like Nigeria and Ecuador, where maintenance procedures are somewhat outdated.

You hardly, hardly get a major airline having a crash anymore. Air safety has improved so much since the 1980's.

[Redder Lurtz]

Originally Posted by Agt Provocateur Those figures are ultimately twisted though RedderLurtz. Over the course of a year, the vast majority of crashes come from dodgy Del Boy airlines in places like Nigeria and Ecuador, where maintenance procedures are somewhat outdated. You hardly, hardly get a major airline having a crash anymore. Air safety has improved so much since the 1980's.

True. But one of these days a fucking great albatross or a microlite will collide head on with a 737 and I bet I'll be on the fucker when it happens.

To be honest, it's not the thought of dying in a plane crash that scares me as much as the time it takes to hit the ground when something's gone badly wrong and you're spinning towards the earth with only one wing left. If you hit a mountain at 200mph you'd know fuck all about it but spinning upside down towards the sea must be fucking horrible.

[Agt Provocateur]

I can't think of any worse ways to die than plunging to your death or like yesterday when you probably survive the impact but die in the fuel fire. It must have literally been hell. There are some instances of peopel surviving massive falls, by the way. In the 1950's a Czechoslovakian air hostess fell 30,000 feet after her plane blew up, and she was working again after 6 months in a wheelchair. Even at Lockerbie, where I don't think the explosion killed anyone, people hit the ground alive but died of their injuries as they couldn't be got to a hospital in time.

You're more likely to drown on your own glass of water than crash on a plane. I'd fly tomorrow if I had anywhere to go!

Originally Posted by tokyojoe Nothing wromg with them if the're maintained properly. Like any aircraft, as they get older the're resold or leased out to operators who's maintainance standards may be a bit lacking. Don't know too much about Spanair, but the're owned by SAS who have an excellent record. SAS have been trying to flog them though.

To be fair SAS do have a record that is impeccable. It is interesting that this morning there are reports SpanAir were in a bit of financial difficulty. I'll bet the cause of this comes down to them not bothering to fix that temperature indicator on the left engine, which is widely reported to have exploded.

Just a bit of fuel for thought, by the way, the MD82 has four emergency exits - three on the left, one on the right. It is fundamentally unsafe.

[Redder Lurtz]

Originally Posted by Agt Provocateur Just a bit of fuel for thought, by the way, the MD82 has four emergency exits - three on the left, one on the right. It is fundamentally unsafe.

Fuck me, how did anyone decide that was a safe design?

The other thing that shits me up is turbulance. I've heard about planes hitting 'air pockets' and plummeting through them, completely out of nowhere. If that happened to me I swear I'd never get back on a plane. I can (just about) handle a bit of bumpiness when flying through cloud but the thought of hitting severe turbulance scares the bejesus out of me.

[Stouffer]

Anyone worried about flying should book seats towards the rear of the fuselage, I mean when was the last time a plane reversed into a mountain?

[hamstrung]

There was a program on a year or two ago which said which seats on the plan were statistically safest.

I forget which they were though, sorry RL.

[Redder Lurtz]

Originally Posted by hamstrung There was a program on a year or two ago which said which seats on the plan were statistically safest. I forget which they were though, sorry RL.

No probs, thanks for your help though, I feel a lot better now.

[Agt Provocateur]

Originally Posted by hamstrung There was a program on a year or two ago which said which seats on the plan were statistically safest. I forget which they were though, sorry RL.

It's toward the back I think.

[hamstrung]

Originally Posted by Agt Provocateur It's toward the back I think.

Think you're right. It went as far as saying X rows back from the exit and things like that.