ipl-logo

What Engineering Design Flaws Led To The Concord Air France Flight 4950 Crash

1518 Words7 Pages

Engineering Disasters: Concorde Air France Flight 4950 Crash (2000) Name Student ID Institution Affiliation Introduction Purpose Official reports by France’s Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA, 2001) revealed that on the Tuesday of July 25th, 2000 Concorde Air France Flight 4950 from Paris en route to New York crashed barely two minutes after takeoff from runway 26 at the Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport. The airplane rammed into a hotel in Gonesse, France, bursting into flames and killing all the 109 passengers on board including the 9 flight crew members, and 4 other ground casualties. This catastrophic incident raised engineering concerns, which beg the following questions: What engineering design flaws led to the disaster? Whose fault was it? What future precautions and safety measures are recommended? Were any new laws, practices, or regulations implemented as a result of the disaster? What was the overall …show more content…

An engineering disaster, as used in this context, specifically refers to an unprecedented occurrences arising particularly from engineering system design flaws, use of substandard parts on system construction or even human error (John Henley, …show more content…

The Concorde type 1 aircraft was manufactured by EADS/BAE SYSTEMS. It was enlisted for airline services on the 24th October 1979 with 11989 flight hours and 4873 cycles until the fateful day. The failed landing gear retraction system is electrically controlled by a lever on the pilot’s instrument panel, but activation is achieved by the hydraulic pressure system. The brakes of the aircraft are manufactured by Dunlop Corporation. Worth noting, the brakes are electrically controlled, but hydraulically

Show More
Related
192 Words | 1 Pages

Some believe it could have been because of a cigarette that was thrown close to some flammable, a machine, or even a faculty in electricity. The outcome of this horrible disaster caused 146 deaths. Within the eighteen minutes it lasted, all of these workers tried to save their lives by trying to escape in different ways. Some tried using one out of the four elevators

Read More
1328 Words | 6 Pages

When workers ran to the exits, they found the stairs and elevators blocked and filled with smoke. The building’s

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

The girls trapped on the 8th floor were freaking out during the fire and had no idea what they should do in case of an emergency. If everyone had remained calm the elevator could’ve made more trips and saved more lives. The deaths of the girls who jumped to their deaths could’ve been avoided if they had specific emergency plans to follow. With some instruction countless more lives could’ve been

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

The two owners of the company Harris and Blanck did not care for a safe working environment all they wanted was for there workers to work and make money for them. The owners actually knew about the fire before it would destroy the upper floors, they didn't tell any of there workers so they could save their selves. What's ironic about this situation is that the building that was destroyed by a fire was supposed to be fireproof. Even though this seems like a lot of negatives there was a positive to this fire. Many leaders you have heard of would lead a revolution, this revolution being some of the people that made it out of the fire would end up revolting against there companies.

Read More
1009 Words | 5 Pages

The main cause for all of the destruction was a rented out Ryder’s moving truck filled with hundreds of homemade pipe and gasoline tank bombs, with the help of Timothy McVeigh and Michael Fortier filling the back of the truck with many of the deadly homemade bombs, Timothy McVeigh then drove the armed and very deadly truck outside to the back of a United States federal building, and then detonated the truck. it destroyed half the building, the whole north side of the federal building was destroyed. The bombing left a sixteen block radius of destruction, over 300 hundred buildings were damaged including the Journal Record building five blocks away. A side from the few commercial buildings that were destroyed, there was also a day care which had been filled with 21 kids ranging from the ages of two to five years of age. Out of those 21 kids, 19 of them were killed by the deadly bomb the other kids were hurt.

Read More
1179 Words | 5 Pages

Introduction: Despite popular belief, the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center was not the first. On February 26, 1993 a truck filled with nearly a ton of explosives drove into the basement of the north tower of the world trade center and was detonated. The explosion destroyed several layers of concrete sub layers and caused a total of 6 deaths and more than 1000 injuries. The explosion also caused the power in the world trade center to shut down, including the emergency lights, following the explosion. It was discovered that the intention of the bomb was to park the bomb at just the right location in the basement of the north tower, so that when the bomb exploded it would cause the tower to lean and fall into the south tower, effectively

Read More
779 Words | 4 Pages

By keeping the Washington Place door locked, the owners caused further deaths. If the door had been unlocked the casualties would have been far fewer. Besides keeping doors unlocked and clear, other safety measures were disregarded. A fire drill “would have given them three minutes” and a adequate fire escape that reached the ground would have saved the ninth floor. Doors that swung out instead of in would have prevented the mass of workers from crowding the exit; they could not open the door because of their panicked pushing.

Read More
1303 Words | 6 Pages

Statement of the Problem Among the events that have had a drastic shaping on human events throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are natural disasters. Often times, a natural disaster will leave residents of affected areas in a state of awe as they seek to understand what exactly happened. One such example is Hurricane Hugo.

Read More
1279 Words | 6 Pages

Additionally, the factory's ventilation was subpar, exposing the staff to hazardous chemicals and dust. The countdown of the fire was initiated by many safety hazards that made the building more prone to fires starting. Firstly, before the fire started, in garment factories it was normal to fill buckets with water in case of a fire. Although this was a normal practice, Mary Domsy-Abrams recalled ‘“On that particular morning, the day of the tragedy, I remarked to my colleagues that the buckets were empty, and that if anything were to happen, they would be of no use,”’ she said” (Kiger 2019). The lack of a sprinkler and a fire system also proved to be a huge safety hazard.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists from the Middle East hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight and attacked the United States. Two planes were flown into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The buildings caught on fire which caused them to collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Read More
1064 Words | 5 Pages

American Airlines Flight 1420 June 1, 1999, a McDonnel Douglas DC-9-82, dispatched as American Airlines 1420, crashed after it had overran runway 4R, at Little Rock National Airport. The flight claimed the lives of 11 people, including the captain, and 105 passengers received serious or minor injuries, including the first officer and flight attendants (NTSB, 1999). According to the NTSB, this accident was due to pilot error (NTSB, 1999). This report will exam all human interaction as well as performance, utilizing Dr. Scott Shappell’s and Dr. Doug Wiegmann’s HFACS model, so one may find the route cause of the errors, and prevent similar accidents in the future.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

The attacks killed 2,996 people and injured over 6,000 others. Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes. Two of the planes (American airline flight 11 and united airlines flight 175) Crashed into the north and south towers of world trade center in New York City. One hour and 42 minutes after the crash of the planes both 110 stories towers collapsed resulting fire and the collapsing and damage to the other towers. Including the seven world trade center tower which has 47 stories.

Read More
1238 Words | 5 Pages

Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, New York to Santo to Las Americas International Airport, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Accident aircraft Airbus A300-605R, registration N14053 had a carrying capacity of 267 people and was powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2A5 engines. On November 12, 2011 American Airlines Flight 587 encountered the second-deadliest aviation accident on U.S. soil. Flight 587, around 0916:15 eastern standard time, carrying 260 people crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, New York, killing all 260 people onboard and 5 on the ground. Initially it was suspected as a terrorist attack as it happened exactly after 2 months and 1 day after 9/11 World Trade Centre attack.

Read More
1498 Words | 6 Pages

The role of human factors in aviation accidents cannot be understated. It is crucial to note that instances such as the one discussed could be avoided by ensuring that the flights crew members are at peak performance, both physically and psychologically. Human factors, generally lead to lack of concentration and loss of focus on the core objective. Furthermore, it restricts the person from thinking about other variations or alternatives to the current situation. It is, therefore, advisable that airlines ensure they manage their personnel in a manner that does not predispose them to such

Read More
1720 Words | 7 Pages

I was never a fan of flying. It’s not that I’m afraid of heights or anything, it’s just the idea of flying. Launching up into the sky, by an airplane specifically, is quite scary, if you think about it. Just imagine every possible way something could go wrong. The plane could get stuck in a storm and crash.

Read More

More about What Engineering Design Flaws Led To The Concord Air France Flight 4950 Crash

Related Topics

Open Document