AIRCRAFT SAFETY

OVERVIEW

Objective

Introduction

Why modern airplanes are not crashworthy

The problems

The Solution

How a Safer Airliner Might Look

Conclusion

Objective
The objective of this presentation is to give a
general overview of aircraft safety and to showcase
the fact that how important it is for the airplane to be
crashworthiness.

Introduction
Airliners as being airworthy but most of them
haven't been crashworthy.

The modern airliner is a patchwork of

compromises and stopgap remedies

Today's airliners are simply derivatives of

the wrongly designed early planes, where
the safety features were ignored for
commercial and political reasons.

What is known is that far too many people

die in plane crashes because they have
not been given a reasonable chance of
surviving.

BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

FatalAccidentCausesbyCategory(percent)
Cause
PilotError

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Total(%)
22

AIR CRAFT
SAFETY
11

PilotError(weatherrelated)

PilotError(mechanicalrelated)

OtherHumanError

Weather

MechanicalFailure

13

Sabotage

OtherCause

Undeterminedormissing

33

Under mechanical failure landing gear failure accounts to 7%

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Research departments can easily boast

that they have developed instruments &
gadgets that make crashes entirely
avoidable.

Accidents continue to happen and

theres no sense in claiming they can
be entirely prevented.

When the cabin of the plane stays in

one piece the passengers stand a
chance in any crash .

The designers must build planes so

the pilot & passengers compartment
will remain intact above all else in a
crash.

Nothing has changed, on the contrary :

Aircraft fuselage structure surrounding
passengers is at an all-time low.

Regulatory agencies and manufacturers

continue to focus on accident avoidance
instead of accident survivability.

Finally, take-off and Landing speeds are

at an all time high - the Concorde
exemplifying the problem.

BANGALORE
INSTITUTE
Why modern
airplanes are not
crashworthy

OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

The fuselage contains only 10-15% of the

airplane's structure.

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

Fuel is placed under passenger seats or in

close proximity thereto.

The engines and landing gear are attached

to fuel tank supporting structure

The seats are connected to tertiary

structure and in the event of a crash they
often disconnect.

The seat belts are attached to the seats

instead of being attached to the main
structure of the plane.

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BANGALORE
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
THE PROBLEMS
Department
The Deadly Combination

of Mechanical Engineering

Engines, Landing-Gear, Fuel Tanks & Tires

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

Irresponsible common practice of hanging

engines and landing gear onto fuel tank.

gasoline in frail containers directly behind high

horsepower reciprocating engines
Lubricating oil and hydraulic fluids, the electrical, exhaust and heating system,
auxiliary power units, Batteries are highly explosive under crash."

George H. Tryon, III, Secretary of the National Fire Protection Association

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Tires & Fuel Tanks

A number of crashes occurred shortly after take-off
due to tire fires, to name a few:

Mexicana B-727 near Mexico City

14 minutes after take-off sustained a tire
blow-out inside the
main-landing gear
wheel well, igniting hydraulic fluid and fuel
and the plane crashed.

Nations Air DC-8 at Jeddah

Landing gear fire after take off led to DC-8
crash at jidda. Intense pressurization,
hydraulic & flight control problems

United Airlines Boeing 747-400

The fuselage torn when a tire exploded &
caused a hole 1m long in the fuselage
after take off

Engines & BANGALORE

Fuel Tanks

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

of the
Mechanical
An example of Department
an engine causing
death of fifty five passengers is the
Manchester 'accident' of 1985.

Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

An explosion in the engine compartment

caused a puncture in the adjacent fuel tank
and a fire which soon engulfed the plane
(which was still on the ground).
Landing gears & Fuel Tanks

In January 1986 McDonnell Douglas The

landing gear was torn off, while landing
which eventually caused serious damage
to the plane & to the passengers

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BANGALORE
INSTITUTE
Jet Blue A320
Emergency Landing

OF TECHNOLOGY

Department
of Mechanical
The incident occurred
on 21 September
2005. Jet Blue
Flight 292 left Burbank,
California, carrying 139 passengers

Engineering

AIR
CRAFT
SAFETY
lights indicated that there were

The
problems with the shock absorber and
steering on the nose gear.

It was noticed that the nose gear had

rotated 90 and become locked in the down
position.

The plane remained in a circular flight

pattern over Long Beach. It continued in this
pattern for about three hours before
attempting an emergency.

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BANGALORE
INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
The A320
touched down on Runway
at
the speed of 140 mph. The plane rolled
Department
Mechanical Engineering
along the runway
on its main gear of
for as
long as possible as its speed decreased.

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

The gear's rubber tires rapidly shredded

away until the metal wheel hubs
scraped the runway pavement.

This friction sent up a trail of white

smoke, a shower of sparks, and finally
bright flashes of flame that spread
behind the gear while the plane
continued barreling down the runway.

Once the smoke had cleared, it was

apparent that the front wheels had
been reduced to a flattened mangle of
metal and rubber.

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BANGALORE INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
The solution
Most Aircraft Deaths Unnecessary

Department of Mechanical Engineering

"The use of Burnelli airliners would reduce air crash fatalities by 85%."

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

Moving the landing gear inboard and strengthening the fuselage to absorb
the shock of landing would eliminate applying stress to the fuel tank
supporting structure.

Shifting of fuel tanks so that they are not in direct line with the power
plants and their exhaust outlets."

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BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

The fuel tanks are only in the wings, with no fuel under or behind the
passengers.

The wheels and tires are under the body of the aircraft with no possibility of
damaging fuel tanks in case of hard landing.

The engines are away from the fuel, on the top rear-most portion of the
aircraft. All of the most volatile components have been segregated.

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BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

In case of a crash or landing-gear collapse, will be riding down the runway

on a flat fuselage. The fuel is safely stored in the wings.

During a crash landing, the engines, at the back of the aircraft, don't get
ripped off the wings and consequently don't cause a fire.

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BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

"When the cabin of a plane stays in one piece the passengers stand
a chance in any crash."
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BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Advantages of Burnelli Lifting Body

Department of Mechanical Engineering

The Burnelli Lifting Body is the safest type of aircraft, providing better
protection for passengers and crew.

On lifting body aircraft 65% of the aircraft structure surrounds passengers;

thus more structure = more strength = more safety.

Low take-off and landing speeds mean less stress on the tires, low noise
level on take-offs and the ability to use short runways, therefore, drastically
increasing safety.

Outstanding in payload and performance

The engines and landing gear, the major fire sources, are attached to the main
structure and isolated from the fuel tanks in the outer wing panels which
reduces fire hazardous

The engines are mounted close together on the fuselage, eliminating the
serious asymmetrical thrust problems,

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

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BANGALORE
How a Safer
Commercial Airliner INSTITUTE
Might Look

OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

Burnelli's main idea was that the fuselage, which in conventional aircraft is
basically a long cylinder, can supply more than 50 per cent of an airplane's
"lift" if it were designed in the shape of an airfoil.

Because of the additional lift, the plane could operate with smaller engines and
a lighter fuel load.
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Main Landing Gear

More weight could be devoted to safety features, such as better-anchored seats

and luggage bins.

The fuselage would be sturdily constructed as a single unit, instead of in tubular

sections that are riveted together, as it is in conventional planes, and its "skin"
would not be weakened where windows and doors are placed

BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

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BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

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Main Landing Gear

The craft is called the "Burnelli lifting-body airplane." Burnelli CBY-3

BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

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BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Conclusion

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR CRAFT SAFETY

Airliners should give more important to safety than any other aspects

The planes should be built crashworthy and should increase the survival rate
of the passengers even in case of any accidents

I SEMESTER M.Tech.
MACHINE DESIGN Batch 08-10

K.M. Kirankumar

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BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

REFERENCES

Department of Mechanical Engineering

AIR
CRAFT
SAFETY
General Aviation Safety by Civil Aviation Authority
PAPERS

Little Airliners presented at 10th Australian International Aerospace Congress2003

WEBSITES
http://www.caa.co.uk
http://www.casa.gov.au/airworth/papers/index.htm
http://www.fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/bfrlall/key/key109.html

I SEMESTER M.Tech.
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