An Aircraft Accident Investigation: Revisited
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FEATURE
An Aircraft Accident Investigation: Revisited S. K. Bhaumik
Submitted: 4 December 2007 / in revised form: 18 July 2008 / Published online: 21 August 2008 ASM International 2008
Abstract Aircraft accidents are usually complex, and hence their investigation requires expertise from several fields. The challenge for an investigating team is to analyze the bits and pieces of information gathered in the course of the investigation through background information, interrogation, and material evidence and stitch them into a descriptive picture to arrive at the possible cause(s) of the accident. During this process, the investigating team is extremely dependent on laboratories where failed components/structures are subjected to detailed study. The laboratory findings are the decisive factors in ensuring a successful investigation. Any mistakes committed at this stage can, apart from wasteful work, lead to confusion and wrong direction of investigation. This paper presents an investigation that in the author’s opinion should have been conclusive, but remained inconclusive. The shortcomings in the investigation are discussed. Keywords Aircraft Accident Investigation Challenges Shortcomings
Introduction Investigation of aircraft accidents has always been a challenge. The investigating team requires considerable breadth of knowledge in engineering as well as materials science. The responsibility of the team is to establish the facts and determine the factors responsible for an accident.
S. K. Bhaumik (&) Failure Analysis & Accident Investigation, Materials Science Division, National Aerospace Laboratories, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Bangalore 560 017, India e-mail: [email protected]
This should be followed by recommendations for corrective actions that would help to prevent occurrence of similar accidents in the future. An aircraft accident is rarely the result of a single event. More often, it is caused by a combination of a number of events coming together. In many instances, the human element in this causal chain can be significant. An aircraft accident investigation, generally, starts with the formation of a core group comprising members from several organizations, which includes the manufacturer, the operator, and the regulatory body. The core group in turn, inducts the necessary experts from different fields during the course of an investigation. The aftermath of an aircraft accident is generally devastating. The secondary damages to the aircraft structure and/or engine are so huge that the investigating team invariably faces a daunting task of analyzing the wreckage. The scenario could be complicated by a pre- or postaccident fire. Successful wreckage analysis leads to identification of components/structures that need to be examined in greater detail in the laboratory for establishing the cause(s) of the accident. The laboratory findings are the vital inputs for an investigating team and often are the decisive factors in bringing out the root cause(s) of an accident. Err
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