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Exactly, how is this any different than black boxes on airplanes? It isn't.

It's more invasive and personal than a blackbox. The NTSB wants cameras in cockpits of planes, but the pilots don't want them.

Did someone review the "fix"? Because a technician can patch something that will break many years later, causing one of the deadliest airplane crash of all time. Knowing how airplane companies put pressure on pilots and technicians, I would not have taken a chance and left the plane.

I don't know that much about aerodynamics, but I suspect at 30,000FT that might result in an uncontrolled decent.

Clearly, you don't. An airplane will glide just fine, thank you. Here's an example of an A330 losing all power and covering 100 km in 19 minutes, to a successful dead-stick landing: http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/others/azoresdeadstick.html

This sort of training is among the most basic of fundamentals, and taught to every pilot before he first solos.

They lost it due to underestimating how stringent they had made their cabling/power/EMI requirements, as well as how much effort it would take to correct signal strength disconnects between component systems during aircraft integration.

The A340 entered service in 1997. It can't be 20 years old. The plane that crashed in New York was an Airbus A300-600 equipped with two General Electric CF6-80C2A5 engines. The aircraft was built in 1987 and was delivered to American Airlines in July 1988. See this for details of the investigation.

http://www.airsafe.com/events/space/astrofat.htm/
For starters but with regard to the 27 January 1967 entry. That accident was due to poor work on that unit.
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/RiskM anagement/shuttleContractorsUnderScrutiny.html/
http://www.floridatoday.com/columbia/113003columbi a.htm/
That was within 2 mins of googling. My bad for thinking it was common knowledge

Pilots crash planes more often, but controller errors can and do result in crashes (not always sole cause, but then there is usually combination of factors in an air crash). Eg.

Milan SAS http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/RiskM anagement/Linatelookingback.html

Swiss Skyguide ATC crash http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2125838.st m (if both pilots had ignored ATC and followed onboard TCAS instructions, crash would have been avoided)

Tenerife http://aviation-safety.net/database/1977/770327-1. htm

Kapton Wiring - The Silent Meanace

TWA warning

Reposted from
here


CELLPHONE MAY HAVE CAUSED FATAL CRASH.

12 January 2001
From News Wire Reports

Aviation investigators said yesterday that a mobile phone may have caused a Saab 340 to crash shortly after take-off from Zurich airport last year, killing all 10 passengers and crew on board. Chris Mason, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, is quoted saying: "It would be the first time a mobile phone had caused a crash." Recent studies by the CAA in the UK have shown that radio waves from mobile phones while switched on can interfere with aircraft electronic and navigation systems and that the use of mobile phones aboard aircraft presents even greater safety risks. Jean Overney, leading investigations into the crash of Crossair flight LX 498 on January 10 last year, said: "Tests with the same aircraft model had shown that the Saab 340's navigation system could be disrupted by a mobile phone."
He went on to say: "We have asked mobile phone operators to check whether a call was made or a message sent just before the crash. These are recorded precisely to the second. We need a court order to give us access, but should have this data by the end of May."

In most countries, the use of mobile phones on board a plane is outlawed . But passengers sometimes don't remember to switch off mobile phones, and in some cases have packed working phones in the aircraft hold. This has led to a series of alerts. Earlier his week, a Slovenian airliner made an emergency landing in Ljubljana after a portable phone caused the electronics system to malfunction and indicate a fire onboard. An investigation showed that the alarm had been caused by the mobile phone, which had been stowed in the luggage compartment and had not been switched off. Two years ago a Briton was sentenced to a year in jail by a Manchester court for "recklessly and negligently endangering" an international flight by refusing to switch off his phone.