FREE ESSAY ON AIRLINE SAFETY

AIRLINE SAFETY

What Should the Regulations be Regarding Airline Safety?
Introduction
It was early in the morning, warm & sunny. We had the day off from school for some
reason, but I can't remember why. I was riding my bike in the street with my friend,
Mike, about 4 blocks from my home in the North Park area of San Diego when I heard a
faint blast, looked up and saw a jetliner falling out of the sky on fire. I can't
remember thinking anything except It's going to hit my house. Then I realized there were
probably a lot of people on the plane, and was immediately so scared I began to cry. Then
I didn't hear anything until the plane hit the ground. Watching that plane on impact is a
sensation I hope I never have to relive again. The aircraft was diving at a steep angle
and one wing was on fire, with flames shooting everywhere. I remember the plane
disappearing behind some tall trees and then feeling the ground shake like an earthquake,
and the deafening roar of the impact and following explosion. It was an absolute
nightmare. It seemed like the entire neighborhood was on fire. The TV stations & news
reporters were converging on the scene in what seemed like only a matter of minutes, but
must've been at least half an hour. I think I just stood there talking to people for the
longest time, but I don't remember anything they said. There were only distant sirens. In
a short period of time the police and several residents had blocked off the streets to
traffic, and I remember hearing people screaming in the background, and others yelling to
get help. I also remember the trees being on fire and this incredible column of black
smoke rising into the clear air, and the smell of jet fuel burning. All these people -
some Firefighters, some Police Officers, and some ordinary people - were carrying injured
people and passengers into the private school across the street. I didn't know then, but
some of them were dead. I remember how weird it was that the freeway traffic was
completely stopped on I-805, which was only a block from the impact site, and it was
eerily quiet except for the distant chaos. My friend Mike disappeared. I found out he was
okay, but he had gotten scared. 
Today the area where the plane crashed looks oddly newer than the older homes in the
area. I can't imagine living there and knowing what had happened in 1978. I think a lot
of those people have no idea what took place.... but maybe they do. I no longer live in
San Diego, but I always drive by when I visit and say a little prayer (Peters). The above
was a witness's description of an accident that was caused by a malfunction in an
airplane. It shows what happens to individual people, families, and their communities.
People that don't even have anything to do with airliners are often affected be these
tragic events. We are here to address these events, discuss their causes, and foresee any
possible ways to prevent, or at least cut down, these occurrences. We want to know what
the regulations should be regarding airline safety.
History and Background
The topic of airline safety is a very controversial one with no real good answer that
best suits everybody. The two extreme answers to this problem are either, increase
airline safety regulations, or don't. Both answers help and hurt a number of people, in a
number of ways. If the airline regulations are increased, more tragedies would be avoided
and more lives would be saved, however, if they were increased, than a chain of events
will occur that will cause everything to be more expensive. First of all, in order for
the airlines do adequately meet these new regulations, they will have to devote more time
and more man - power to the project. This will then increase their input costs. With
input costs being increased the ticket prices for consumers will then go up. Since
obviously nobody likes 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 hearings. ALPA has initiated or
participated in most of the numerous safety improvements over the years that have made
U.S. airline travel the safest mode of transportation.
Congressman Bud Shuster is a fourteen term Member of the Congress of the United States
who serves as the Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which
includes jurisdiction over highways, transit, railroads, aviation, water resources,
economic development, Merchant Marine, Coast Guard, and public buildings and grounds. He
has been a principal author of much of America's transportation legislation during the
past two decades, which includes the Surface Transportation Act of 1982, the Surface
Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, and the landmark Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), the most historic transportation
legislation since President Eisenhower and the Congress created the Interstate Highway
System in 1956. He is very devoted to improving airline safety and saving lives. This is
very obvious if you read the laws that he helped pass.
James Oberstar is a congressman from the 8th district in Minnesota. He is the Senior
Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Even though he is of a
different political party than Congressman Shuster, he still shares similar beliefs. They
both are in favor of increased regulations, but Oberstar is more in favor of harsher
regulations. He is always proposing amendments to help fund the NTSB. The last major one
he attempted was in July of 1996. It asked for 5 million dollars to be given to the NTSB
so that they could hire 31 new specialists. 
Analysis and Discussion Section
It is tough to say exactly what should be done regarding airline safety regulations. The
government should increase the regulations and make penalties harsher. More government
funding should be given to the NTSB to increase their range and power. If they could hire
more specialists for targeted danger areas, than hopefully, these accidents could be
minimized. Also, the NTSB should place tougher regulations on all aspects of airline
safety. If this is done, airlines will have to pay more, thus leading to higher ticket
prices, but in the long run it is worth it. You can't put a price on human life, and if
more funding isn't given to see this out, that is exactly what would be happening.
On the other hand, some think differently. The government should not increase funding of
the NTSB and not spend tons of money on something that can to completely be prevented.
Air travel is still the safest way to go, so if money is going to be used on saving
lives, it should first be directed towards something like automobile safety. If
regulations are increased than the public is paying for it twice. They have to pay the
taxes to fund the NTSB, and then pay the higher ticket prices that the airlines will have
to create due to their higher safety expenses. Saving lives is important, however there
is only so much that can be done. Even if every airplane suits every regulation
perfectly, there will still be accidents. Human error and nature will still cause its
fair share of disasters, and wasting money trying to stop nature is just stupid. For the
same money, you could save more lives if you attack the safety regulations on other
things, like cars. No matter what method that the government chooses to use, people will
be angry. It is and will always be a controversial issue.