Claustrophobia is usually described as a fear of enclosed places. A more accurate description might be “a fear of not having an easy escape route”. 2008 has seen 111 air safety incidents worldwide, almost half of which resulted in fatal or ‘hull-loss’ accidents. While the total number of hull losses was more than the 10-year average, the death toll in these accidents was less.
This spurt in the accident rate has spurred the safety conscious world into action. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA have initiated action to address fatigue as a factor in accidents. There is a concerted move to reduce the duty time and increase the rest period of pilots.
Some of the accidents resulting in loss of lives or complete destruction of the aircraft should raise concern in India. The British Airways 777 accident in London Heathrow, has been attributed to fuel contamination because of ice formation. The aircraft had flown under extremely cold conditions. Safety recommendations have been initiated to overcome this problem. While approaching Heathrow airport, the aircraft experienced a sudden partial power loss on both engines, and the aircraft crashed short of the runway. Emergency services were able to reach the aircraft within seconds.
On August 20, 2008, a Spanair Flight JK5022 carrying 172 people on the MD-80 aircraft, crashed immediately after take off and 154 people died in that accident. The investigation report is yet to be published. There is a suspicion of overloading and a power loss on take-off. The crash took place within the airport perimeter and fire service equipment was able to reach the site immediately.
On September 14, 2008, Aeroflot-Nord flight 821, a Boeing-737-500, belonging to a branch of the national airline Aeroflot, was on a flight from Moscow to Perm, near the Ural mountains. It crashed short of the runway, killing all 88 on board. The accident site was near the trans-Siberian railway track and it shut down rail traffic for a considerable period of time.
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