Accident Investigations

Let’s get it out of the way: there is little in common between the apparent loss of AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 and the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370.  

But Flight 8501’s disappearance does have at least some resemblance to the 2007 loss of Adam AirAirAsia A320 Flight 547.  Both Indonesian airliners disappeared shortly

Airport fire trucks must get to a burning plane within three minutes if they are going to save any lives. That’s the maximum response time allowed by the National Fire Protection Association, the organization that sets the standard for airport firefighters, including those working at U.S. Air Force bases. 

The survivable atmosphere inside an aircraft

Someone changed the course of Flight MH370 and turned off the aircraft’s transponder.  Turning off an aircraft’s transponder makes it more difficult for the plane to be tracked by radar.  A hijacker with even minimal flight training would have known that. 

But there is one wrinkle.  The transponder was reportedly turned off when air

This animation compares what Asiana 214’s approach should have looked like to what it did look like. From the data we have, the animation appears to be fairly accurate, except the audio is not properly synchronized. (The initial transmissions are from when the aircraft was 7 miles from the runway, not several hundred feet.)

If

As described here, passenger claims against Asiana Airlines are limited by the Montreal Convention.  But any claims the victims’ may have against a manufacturer of the aircraft or its component parts are not.  

NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman reported that evacuation slides opened inside the passenger cabin. The slides are, of course, designed to

The markings on a runway are there to help the pilot aim for the proper touchdown point.  Shortly before the Asiana 214 crash, SFO moved the touchdown point for runway 28L several hundred feet down the runway. SFO was thus required to remove the old markings, and paint on new ones that matched the new

Because Asiana Flight 214 was international, lawsuits against the responsible airline are governed by the Montreal Convention. The Montreal Convention strictly limits where a passenger may bring suit. To bring suit against an airline in a U.S. court, the injured passenger must be a U.S. resident, the passenger’s ticket must have been issued in

Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was an international flight between Seoul and San Francisco.  That means the airline’s obligation to compensate its passengers for their injuries is governed by an international treaty known as the Montreal Convention. Here are some of the Convention’s important points, as they apply to Flight 214:

  • The Airline must compensate