Last week's collision of two planes on the runway at Japan's Haneda Airport was hailed as a miracle. The collision between Japan Airlines Flight 516 and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft and the subsequent explosion were shared on social media and attracted worldwide attention.
But the real headline was how small the death toll was in what could very well have been a tragedy of epic proportions.
Five crew members of the Coast Guard propeller plane were killed and one was seriously injured. However, all 379 passengers and crew on board the JAL plane managed to survive, surprising both aviation experts and the public.
While it's clear that luck, divine or otherwise, was on the plane's side, the fact that so many people escaped unscathed is actually due to more practical considerations. There is a possibility. In fact, a generation ago, the crash of Flight 516 would almost certainly have been a mass casualty disaster, like the 1977 two-plane crash in the Canary Islands that killed 583 people. It would have been. But as the Japanese accident boldly shows, accidents today are not only much rarer, but also more survivable than ever before.
In the immediate aftermath of the JAL disaster, the flight's flight attendants were rightly praised for overseeing a quick and orderly evacuation as the aircraft was engulfed in flames. And they did it under the most extreme conditions, overcoming many setbacks that could easily have proved fatal.according to wall street journal, the plane's exit doors did not open properly, many of the escape slides were found to be defective, and the intercom system malfunctioned. Flight attendants threw punches and used old-fashioned megaphones to shout instructions to passengers. Just 18 minutes after the mayhem began, All passengers were evacuated from the shaking JAL plane and survived.
Beyond the crew's admirable quick thinking, this disaster confirmed the aviation industry's decades-long investment in next-generation materials and technology aimed at saving both money and lives. . Indeed, according to some, 2020 MIT Survey, Commercial air travel is now nearly 20 times safer than it was 40 years ago. According to a report from MIT, the number of aviation-related deaths decreased from 1 in 350,000 passengers from 1968 to 1977 to 1 in 7.9 million from 2008 to 2017. .
The United States has not had a major civil aviation accident since 2009, when a Colgan Air jet crashed into a home near Buffalo, killing 50 people. And with the exception of the Boeing 737-Max tragedies in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in a combined 346 casualties, fatal accidents are similarly rare around the world. This data is even more impressive considering that the world's total annual passenger numbers have soared from just under 2 billion in 2000 to nearly 5 billion just before the pandemic. According to the International Energy Agency.
The most important factor that has made air travel so safe and crashes so tolerable is advances in the manufacture of new aircraft. Airlines are phasing out aging aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777, which have been used for decades on lucrative long-haul routes. In its place will be newer, more efficient jets like Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350-900 involved in the Tokyo crash.
These are named after their main constituent material and are known as carbon composite jets. Unlike older aircraft made of aluminum, steel, and other alloys, composite aircraft are made of carbon fibers bonded with adhesives such as epoxy resins. Composite materials are lighter than traditional aircraft metals, but equally strong and durable.
The use of composite materials is welcomed Introduced as a “game changer” on aviation industry site “Simple Flying” When it comes to safety, it's easy to see why. Traditional metal materials can begin to deteriorate at just 600 degrees Celsius. However, composite materials are much more heat resistant and can often withstand temperatures of: Up to 2,000 degrees Celsius.
“Carbon composite materials for aircraft have significantly improved strength.” [than aluminum] “Let's look at it from an engineering perspective,” explains Professor Sean Pulcznicki, an aviation safety expert at the Ohio State University Center for Aviation Research. “At traditional jet fuel fire temperatures, the aluminum would melt, so the hull would be destroyed more quickly,” said Henry Harteveldt, an aviation analyst at Atmosphere Research Group. Not only that, but the slower burn time also means far less harmful smoke is produced inside the aircraft in the event of an accident. This will further preserve the lives of the passengers.
In the case of the A350, more than 50% of the entire plane is made of composite materials, from the fuselage to the wings and tail. This makes the plane about 20% lighter and consumes less fuel than if it were made from traditional metal. The question is how well these composite planes can withstand fire.
The JAL plane crash provided some much-needed answers. In fact, the Tokyo tragedy was the first such modern tragedy. carbon composite airplane It has been be consumed by flames. Aviation experts say: The torso held up well Buy passengers precious time to escape in the middle of hell. “It appeared that the aircraft maintained its integrity after the impact, which contributed to the fire not progressing as quickly,” Pulcznicki said. How well the plane performed at the time of the crash remains to be determined as investigators scrutinize the wreckage in Japan.
In addition to these slow-burning (and smoke-producing) composite materials, Harteveldt says safety improvements have been implemented from nose to tail. For example, the passenger seat can now withstand much stronger impacts. He can withstand up to 16gs, compared to 9gs, which was previously required by law. According to Boeing. Newer planes like the A350 have clearer exit signs and improved floor aisle lighting, all of which are intended to make evacuations smoother in emergencies, Harteveldt continues. .
Beyond the plane's structure, the most important safety improvements center on crew preparation and training. In the early days of commercial aviation, registered nurses were employed as flight attendants. But as air travel became more common, the job evolved from a matter of care and comfort to passenger safety. Most major airlines require a two-month training period to qualify as a flight attendant and focus on handling crash simulations.
“flight attendant [also] Receive training twice a year for safety [and]…The ability to safely evacuate an aircraft under a variety of conditions,” Harteveldt said. These complementary efforts are supported by an additional training procedure known as his CRM (Cockpit Resource Management/Crew Resource Management), which emerged in the wake of the tragic Canary Islands crash.
CRM aims to formalize and streamline communication between all crew members and reduce the potential for human error, which causes more than 20% of all crashes. Most notably, CRM flattens the onboard hierarchy so that all flight crew members, regardless of rank, are equally empowered to “make unilateral decisions based on the best available knowledge to process.” Harteveldt adds: (Decisions such as using a megaphone to evacuate passengers, as flight attendants did when Flight 516's PA system malfunctioned).
What helped keep casualties to a minimum in Tokyo last week was that the passengers, along with the crew and their complex, did as they were told. For example, unlike previous runway accidents, “we haven't seen a single photo.” [from the Japan crash] Anthony Brickhouse, an aerospace safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
This was not always the case. In 2013, passengers Asiana Airlines flight crash-landed I got off the plane at San Francisco International Airport with my baggage. Others who had actually already fled, I tried to go back to get my belongings.. When an Emirates flight crash-landed at Dubai Airport in 2016, passengers wasted time removing luggage from the overhead bins, blocking the aisle and disrupting evacuation procedures. And many of them are 41 people lost their lives in the 2019 Aeroflot crash in Moscow It was later determined that the cause of the incident was a scramble between passengers for personal belongings. “God is their judge.” One survivor has been announced in Moscow following reports of baggage theft.
Aviation analysts say increased checked baggage fees have led to more carry-ons and more passengers reaching for their bags rather than heading for emergency evacuation routes. 'Air rage' incidents have increased significantly since the pandemic began – Including a 50% spike last year — It's also becoming more difficult for flight attendants to fully focus on passenger safety.
Harteveldt, for one, says airlines should invest more in flight crews as the first line of defense in the event of an accident or mishap. Meanwhile, new FAA regulations starting in late 2022 will extend mandatory rest breaks between shifts for flight attendants to at least 10 hours.
While new aircraft designs and improved crew training continue to improve the safety of air travel, the industry still remains concerned about the safety concerns that may have led to the door blowing off of Alaska Airlines' Boeing 737-Max 9 on January 5th. Factors such as high levels of assembly errors and design flaws need to be addressed. Airlines have temporarily canceled all flights using jets. Meanwhile, the FAA launched an investigation on Thursday Boeing factory floor quality control measures.
The FAA's investigation could take months, and the entire debacle has already caused Boeing's stock to drop 10%. Still, all airlines, not just Alaska, know that the only way to further improve safety procedures is to take a hard look at when and how they've failed before.
“It may seem fatalistic, but airlines are inspecting everything from aircraft structure to cabin materials to crew training with 'what could go wrong' in mind. ” says Hartevett. “They actually I want to know Anything can go wrong so they can do their best to prevent it from happening again. ”
Journalist Mike Avila focuses on travel and aviation and has written for CBS, NBC, ABC, The Points Guy, and more.
