Boeing Plane Crashed on Purpose to Help People Survive

Plane crash on purpose.

Boeing Plane Crashed on Purpose to Help People Survive

    A Boeing plane crash test was done on purpose in a Mexican desert. But, only dummies were in the plane when the test was done and the crash acts as a science experiment to improve survivability on board. Cameras recorded the crash from the inside of the plane, on the ground from other planes, and from the ejecting pilots helmet. This experiment answers the question about how to make a plane crash more survivable. The likelihood of dying in a plane crash is really small as crashes are very rare and 76 percent of passengers aboard serious airplane crashes survive. This project took four years with 300 people on location. In a 1989 DC-10 crash in Sioux City, Iowa, the plane tumbled and burned, but half the  people survived.

And an Ethiopian airliner that went  straight into the ocean and fifty of the 175 people on board survived. Because of the limited data they say that test crashes like this one are very important. This test is similar to a NASA experiment done in 1982 with dummies on board but without the cameras filming what happened. After this they realized that they had to do another one so Discovery Channel decided to do this with a plane worth  about 9.5 million US dollars.  An anonymous source says that they think that it was a good idea on Discovery Channel's part because many people are scared of flying because of crashes and this would make them less scared to have a crash on purpose. She says that airlines will probably get more business as people will want to fly more after this.

By Karina Shah
Word Count: 320
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/05/science/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/29/discovery-plane-crash-documentary/
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8459996/passenger-jet-deliberately-crashed-in-desert
http://www.terminalu.com/n-america/video-boeing-plane-crash-lands-in-mexico-on-purpose/25814/