Use only when final reports are released or for the process of investigating accidents. Questions inviting speculation or opinions are off-topic.
Questions tagged [accident-investigation]
177 questions
73
votes
7 answers
What do aircraft accident investigators do in between incidents?
Consider aircraft accident investigators in your average first- or second-world nation. Something like the US NTSB, the French BEA, the Canadian TSB, the Australian TSB, ... (whichever you happen to be most familiar with is fine)
Now, most of the…
user
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47
votes
4 answers
What happens to aircraft wreckage?
A small private plane (Piper) crashed near where I live a few years ago. Both occupants were killed. The crash site is on the top of a ridge in dense forest. Reaching the site would require a hike of about a mile from the nearest road. The terrain…
Carey Gregory
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23
votes
1 answer
Why do chunks of aircraft debris float?
In reading about various theories of what happened to flight MH370, there's a lot of discussion about it possibly crashing into the ocean, breaking up, and pieces of the aircraft floating hundreds of miles away.
Is it generally expected that large…
SSilk
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16
votes
2 answers
Do aircraft manufacturers like Airbus or Boeing charge the airline, when they assist in aircraft accident investigations?
Most of the time, when an aircraft crashes or has an accident, the manufacturer also assists in the investigation. Is this a pro-bono kind of effort on part of the manufacturers, or do they charge the airline for it?
Firee
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15
votes
3 answers
Are aviation accident investigation reports always made public?
How is the dissemination of aviation accident investigation reports regulated? Are the reports public by default, or can they be kept secret? Are there any known rules on this?
If the reports are not public, do the people involved in the accident…
bogl
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5
votes
5 answers
Can the debris pattern from a crash site confirm explosion as the cause of a crash?
Is there any precedent or can the debris pattern positively confirm the cause of a crash due to:
an internal explosion OR
strike from a missile or other military projectile?
If a particular flight path is necessary to facilitate the question,…
gatorback
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5
votes
3 answers
What is the identity of this abandoned, wrecked Sudan Airways airliner?
The other day, I was browsing Twitter, when I came across this picture of an airliner posted by a Sudanese local (thought it was a Boeing 737, but a friend of mine pointed out that it was an Airbus A300). I tried Google Image Searching it, but…
Waseem Alkurdi
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4
votes
1 answer
Does the NTSB ever not follow up a preliminary report?
Two years ago, there was a fatal crash in Fredericksburg, VA in which 6 people died in a Beech 95-B55. For some reason, the story struck me, and I wrote a note to myself to follow up on it.
The NTSB published a preliminary report 12 days after the…
yshavit
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4
votes
1 answer
Why could these aircraft not prevent total hydraulic failure?
Then have been three incidents (UAL232, JAL123 and DHL 00-DLL) where damage to an aircraft resulted in complete loss of hydraulics. Only one of them managed to make it down safely using differential thrust. Each plane was from a different…
TomMcW
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4
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1 answer
How can investigators trust flight instrumentation from aviation accidents?
I encountered the original question here; I tried to improve the prose by editing it:
Secondly, about all air disasters involving high-speed impact with terrain, how can investigators trust results from testing instrumentation that hit the ground?…
user128
3
votes
1 answer
Why it was thought that 25% of the passengers could have survived the Crash in the Desert?
I read on Wikipedia:
The Controlled Impact Demonstration (or colloquially the Crash In the Desert) was a joint project between NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that intentionally crashed a remotely controlled Boeing 720 aircraft…
Deschele Schilder
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2
votes
1 answer
Lockerbie bombing - amount of debris (confusing numbers)
As mentioned on Pan Am Flight 103:
... In total 4 million pieces of wreckage were collected and registered on
computer files. More than 10,000 pieces of debris were retrieved,
tagged and entered into a computer tracking system.
This is a bit…
belinea
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2
votes
1 answer
Can someone identify this crash?
I watched an episode of Air Crash Investigation or something else a while ago, I want to know which one this was:
What I know is that during takeoff, the aircraft received a warning saying some part of the autopilot wasn't functional however they…
James Hatton
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2
votes
3 answers
How do you find the center of gravity of an Anthropomorphic Test Device
In regards to the aircraft seat testing process in which the occupant's center of gravity is required, I am quite interested to know how people calculate the C.G. of an Anthropomorphic Test Device (commonly known as crash test dummy) It would also…
SG-005
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vote
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Was the Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crash the first time a commercial airline crash was livestreamed from a plane?
The Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crash that happened on 2023-01-15 was livestreamed by a passenger in the plane. Was the Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crash the first time a commercial airline crash was livestreamed from a plane?
Franck Dernoncourt
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