Who is an engineer?
Engineer is one who is responsible for building or creating something according to a set of guidelines, instructions and/or specifications which performs needed functions without failures. Though technologies are that widespread that we can build faster and safer, but when it’s about human nature - it’s always about human factor. According to the Murphy’s law: if something can fail, eventually it will.
Why engineering disaster?
The reason why we consider a failure as an engineering disaster is perception of risk. For example during a year approximately the same number of people die in accidents involving trains, bicycles and airplanes. But perception of risk is much different in these types of accidents. When a plane is going to crash no one inside is in control of the situation and if one plane crashes much more people die rather than in accident involving bicycle.
What causes a disaster?
Causes of engineering disasters can be merged into next groups:
- Failure of engineering ethics (”human factor”, miscalculations, etc)
- Extreme/unpredicted environmental conditions (that were not taken into consideration)
- Improper design (many of which are also the result of unethical practices)
-
Materials failures
In this post I’ll try to cover these causes by 10 examples of most shocking engineering disasters in history.
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Concorde was the fastest transatlantic passenger’s airline. It could develop near super-sonic speed and carry more than hundred passengers. The airline was suspended due to the Concorde plane crash during the take-off. The crash killed all passengers (100) plus 9 crew members.
Cause:
Quote from official report:
“[…]during the take-off run the front right tire of the left main landing gear was destroyed
[…], probably after having run over a piece of metal;
- the destruction of the tire caused damage, either directly or indirectly, to the aircraft
structure and systems, causing the aircraft to crash less than one minute and thirty
seconds after the destruction of the tire. The damage sequence and the connections
between the various events have not yet been fully established.[…]”
Conclusion:
“the Certificates of Airworthiness for Concorde be suspended until
appropriate measures have been taken to guarantee a satisfactory level of
safety with regard to the risks associated with the destruction of tires.”
Simple tire damage eventually destroyed whole plane.
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NASA’s Shuttle is a spacecraft that is used by the United States government for human missions in Space. In 1986 second Shuttle named Challenger blew up shortly after the launch, on it’s 10th mission.
Quote from official report:
“On the morning of January 28, 1986 Challenger was destroyed
73 seconds after launch during the 25th mission. The seven-member crew perished.
Early in its investigation, the Commission identified the mechanical cause of the accident to be the failure of the joint of one of the Solid Rocket Boosters. The Commission found that the design was not well understood by the engineers that operated it and that it had not been adequately tested.”
After the tragedy Shuttle project was suspended for 32 months for investigation of special commission appointed by the president Ronald Reagan.
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In 2003 the disaster has repeated with Columbia shuttle - the first space shuttle launched in 1981.
“The incident was caused by improper wiring in the R5 cargo door latching mechanism. At the time, the design of the 747-122 provided a small window situated flush against each of the cargo doors, so that the ground crew could visually confirm that the doors’ latches were set to the locked position. There were, however, several flaws in this design. It didn’t allow a particularly close look at the door latches, and it didn’t show the entire latching mechanism, which made the complete inspection of the latched door impossible. With these factors in place, an accident was bound to occur, and finally did on this flight.”
Result: the Shuttle project is suspended again for further investigation.
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Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 was an international passenger flight which type is Boeing 747. On July 23th in 1996 the plane crashed shortly after takeoff (approximately after 12 minutes) due to fuel tank explosion and many safety issues as claimed by commission investigating the case and killing more than 200 passengers and crew members.
Possible reasons for the in-flight breakup.
Witness reports and the distribution of wreckage indicated a catastrophic in-flight breakup of TWA 800. The NTSB considered as possible causes “structural failure and decompression; detonation of a high-energy explosive device, such as a bomb exploding inside the airplane or a missile warhead exploding upon impact with the airplane; and a fuel/air explosion in the center wing tank (CWT).”
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Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev 154M passenger jet on route from Moscow, Russia to Barcelona, Spain collided with DHL cargo jet flying from Bergamo, Italy to Brussels, Belgium in mid-air on July 1st, 2002 over the towns of Owingen and Überlingen in Germany, (near Lake Constance), killing all 71 aboard both aircraft. German official investigators determined on May 19, 2004, that the accident had been caused by problems within the air traffic control system and problems with the use of the collision warning system. On February 24, 2004, the controller, that is believed to be sleeping on duty at the time, Dane Peter Nielsen, was stabbed to death by Vitaly Kaloyev who had lost his wife and two children in the accident.
- What would you add to the list?
