Airline Safety Essay Research Paper What Should — страница 2

rises in ticket prices, consumer consumption will then decrease dramatically. So basically, if the regulations become stricter, prices will go up, but lives will be saved. On the other hand if the regulations do not increase, prices will not be as high, yet more lives will be lost. What basically has to be done is people have to agree on how much of each they feel is important. The basically have to put a price on their lives. If they choose to not increase the regulations, then airline disasters will occur more frequently. There have been several accidents involving the U.S. in the last few years. The last accident occurred on July 25, 2000 involving an Air France Concorde near Paris, France: The aircraft was on a charter flight from Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris to JFK

airport in New York. There was apparently a problem with at least one of the engines, either during takeoff or shortly after takeoff. The aircraft caught fire and crashed into a hotel near the airport. All 100 passengers and nine crewmembers were killed. Four people on the ground were also killed. On January 31 an Alaska Airlines MD83 crashed near Pt. Mugu, CA: The aircraft was on a flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to San Francisco when it crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of the LAX airport. Reportedly, the aircraft was diverting to Los Angeles and started a rapid descent from about 17,000 feet. All 83 passengers and five crewmembers were killed. On Halloween of 1999 an EgyptAir 767-300ER plane went down in the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket Is.,

MA: Radar and radio contact with the aircraft was lost shortly after the aircraft departed JFK Airport in New York on a flight to Cairo. The aircraft was last sighted about 60 miles (96 km) SSE of Nantucket Is. The flight was carrying 15 crewmembers and 202 passengers. In June of 1999 an American Airlines MD80 went down in Little Rock, Arkansas. The aircraft ran off the runway, broke up, and caught fire after a night landing. There were thunderstorms in the area at the time of the event. One of the six crewmembers and 10 of the 139 passengers were killed. On September 2, 1998 a Swissair MD11 crashed near Halifax, Canada: The aircraft was on a nonstop flight from New York’s JFK airport to Geneva. The aircraft crashed at night in the Atlantic Ocean close to shore about 50 miles

(80 km) southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. All 15 crewmembers and 214 passengers were killed. These are just the most recent accidents in the past decade. Almost of all of these tragedies can be avoided with harsher regulations, but they have to implemented first. Interest Groups and Elected Officials Sections One group that is highly involved in airline safety is the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is a small, non-regulatory, independent agency with about 400 employees. At a cost of about 18 cents per year per citizen, the Board strives to restore and maintain the safety of the nation’s transportation systems following aviation, rail, highway, marine, pipeline, and hazardous materials accidents. The Safety Board’s mission is very focused: to prevent future

transportation accidents from occurring. The Board’s vision is for the public to continue to have confidence in our nation’s transportation systems, even when accidents occur, knowing that an independent body will determine the cause(s) of accidents and recommend corrective actions to be taken. Their four goals are: 1. To prevent future accidents, save lives, and reduce injuries and property damage. 2. To prevent future accidents, save lives, and reduce injuries and property damage. 3. To provide aviators and mariners with fair, timely, independent appellate review of certificate actions taken by the FAA and the US Coast Guard. 4. To be the best managed agency in government in order to facilitate the accomplishment of our other goals. Another group that is interested in

airline safety is the Air Line Pilots Association. ALPA provides all of the traditional union representation services for its members. This includes the lobbying of airline pilot views to Congress and government agencies. In addition, it devotes more than 20 percent of its dues income to support aviation safety. A network of more than 600 working airline pilots serve on local and national safety committees to carry out the Association’s safety work. A staff of professional aeronautics engineers and safety experts assists them. ALPA is usually granted “interested party” status in most major airline accidents, which means that ALPA accident investigators assist National Transportation Safety Board staff at the on-site investigations and participate in the ensuing public