Recommendations on Air Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Recommendations on Air Safety - Essay Example This essay involves a NTSB case study, involving Alaska Airlines flight 281 that crashed off the California coast, in the 1990's and touch upon another accident that took place earlier in 1996. The idea of projecting these two cases is to focus on how and what led to the demise of these aircrafts and what can be done to overcome such occurrences in future. All this with an emphasis on the financial implications on such airlines will be studied. The researcher first takes a look at the crash of a DC-9 ValuJet, flight 592 on May 11, 1996, with 110 passengers on board, and then a detailed investigation into the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 Alaska Airlines Flight 261 on January 31, 2000 carrying 83 passengers. In both these accidents there were no survivors. The researcher discusses what are the possible courses of action for maintenance of existing aircrafts, smooth and efficient functioning of ground staff, and better and safer aircrafts. The researcher also describes how can aircraft compa nies manage their existing infrastructure to compete and growth in such volatile atmosphere and can an airline with just a handful of outdated and over flown aircrafts be able to make an impression in the industry. Irrespective of these, no company can run efficiently without considering the cost v/s benefit factor. The researcher needs to consider the implications of the National Transportation Safety Board report on air safety and evolve a plan to correct any such mistake taking place in my airlines. 3.0 Case 1 ValuJet Flight 592 A DC-9 belonging to ValuJet, flight 592 with 110 passengers on board crashed into the Everglades on May 11, 1996, killing all on board instantaneously. ValuJet was created in 1993 with just two aircrafts. Gradually they expanded their strength to add three different series of aircraft: the MD-80, the DC9-30 and the DC9-20. The airline has flights from Atlanta to Florida. When ValuJet began operations, many analysts felt that they would not be able to compete with the other major players in that sector. However, the airline bosses were able to convince themselves that they would not just compete with their rivals but also grab a portion of the dense market segment. The success for ValuJet came from low operation costs, and second hand aircrafts.