A few weeks ago, an Asiana Airlines pilot by the name of Lee Kang-kook was flying a plane by the name of Boeing 777 from China into the San Francisco International Airport. Flight 214 was flying smoothly up until the point of descent. Apparently, while Kang was trying to land the plane, he cause the plane to accelerate to a speed much to fast for it to land. Kang's judgement was that if they continued at that speed, the plane wouldn't be able to stop at the end of the runway. Kang pulled the plane upwards, trying to avoid impact, but it was too late. The tail end of the plane had hit the rocks at the beginning of the runway and had broken off. The plane went down in a flaming spiral onto the runway, leaving 181 of the 300 passengers injured, and two teenage girls dead.
It was later revealed to the public that Kang was very inexperienced with flying a jet like 777. However he was on his way to getting a license to fly a 777 jet. Kang had only 43 hours worth of flight experience for a 777 jet, alongside a well experienced 777 pilot. On flight 214, he was not co-piloting with an experienced pilot, therefore highly unfit to fly that plane.
The Boston molasses disaster relates to the San Francisco plane crash because they both physically and emotionally scarred hundreds of people. Not many may have been killed in either disaster, but there were many injuries in both. Nonetheless, both disasters differ because the molasses disaster was within the city of Boston, effecting a larger area of land, and destroying a mass of buildings in the city. The San Francisco plane crash happened on a runway, where the falling plane didn't hit any buildings or cause any sort of property damage. Yes, the plane will costs millions to replace, but that is a mess that is faster and easier to clean up, unlike the molasses was in Boston. It is hard to tell whether both the plane crash and the molasses flood were preventable or not. Maybe if the pilot was more experienced, the plane wouldn't have crashed, and maybe if the tank holding the molasses was better structured, the flood wouldn't have happened. Both disasters are similar in the way in which people are questioning whether they were preventable or not.
For more information on the San Francisco plane crash go to: http://abcnews.go.com/US/san-francisco-plane-crash-pilot-43-hours-flying/story?id=19598352
Katie, you make an excellent point when saying that these situations could have been avoidable. Just like Jell could have taken the initiative to renovate the molasses tank, you would think that Lee Kang's employers would have taken more consideration into what he was capable of? They should have taken the time to see what kinds of planes or what he was comfortable flying, instead of placing him in a cockpit where he is inexperienced. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the situations could have been avoidable. In the San Francisco Plane crash the plane company most likely would be found liable for the accident. That is also true for the USIA/ Purity Distilling Company in the Boston Molasses Disaster. I also think in a lot of accidents like this it is hard to tell what would be preventable when there is not really a sure answer as to what happened. The plane crash may have been easier to clean up but both disasters were similar in emotional damage to many people.
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