AERIAL CATASTROPHES AND OTHER HAZARDS IN HEAVEN: AIRCRAFT

MAINTENANCE

Name: Maria Alejandra Burbano Castro Code: 2164596 Group: K1

Whenever we hear that there was an airplane accident, our first thoughts lead us to
ask ourselves, in addition to whether all the people who were traveling are OK, the
"why did it happen?" Or directly "whose fault is it?". Many times, the initial
assumption can lead us to presume "could have been due to maintenance errors".
Various trivial maintenance errors from the smallest in aircraft hangars can cause
large-scale aerial tragedies. From an incorrect fusion to a wrong screw, any detail can
put hundreds of lives at risk. Major aviation security accidents hide from insignificant
oversights to gross negligence. Some clear examples of these negligence were those of
the Birmingham-Malaga flights of British Airways on June 10, 1990, in which thirteen
minutes after takeoff, when the ship had already reached 5,000 meters in height and
the hostesses were preparing to serve the food, an unusual event occurred in the
cabin. The windshield came lose and the pilot shot out. One leg was caught in the
cockpit which prevented the captain from being sucked by the turbine of the plane, or
the one occurred at Hilo-Honolulu of Aloha Airlines on April 28, 1988. Flight 234 with
95 people on board was traveling on Hawaii when, suddenly, the roof of the plane
began to crack and fell off from the front to the wings, which caused a
depressurization in the cabin, the pilot was forced to an emergency landing. The
descent had to be abrupt because the lack of oxygen threatened the lives of the
passengers as this could cause hypoxia. The materials subjected to constant
pressurization and depressurization created fatigue cracks in more than 70% of the
piece that cracked.

These examples clearly show an abandonment in various factors and protocols such
as lack of communication, lack of assertiveness, lack of knowledge, lack of resources
or simply lack of awareness, several factors that have claimed the lives of hundreds of
people and continue to cause accidents. nowadays. The competent authorities usually
act in the matter when most of these fatal accidents have already occurred, being that
there should be a strict control to safeguard the integrity of the lives addressed and
fulfill the duty they acquire when placing these aircraft in service. This is due to the
complacency of institutions accompanied by low situational awareness of the real
dangers that produce relaxation of the standards themselves in decision-making and
actions. After communication problems, complacency is the main factor that
contributes to the maintenance and inspection error, since the rigor and protocol to
be followed is ignored, as the experience gained is relied upon, in this case acquired
by the maintenance managers. Bearing in mind that the lack of these factors will be an
aid for the occurrence of air accidents, we can and must make the necessary efforts to
identify them and consequently provide the organization with the aspects in which
they have deficiencies and weaknesses.