Jul 1 2010
Making Air Travel Safer By Destroying An Airbus A380 Engine
Destroying An Airbus A380 Engine To Help Ensure Flight Safety
Air travel safety is paramount to everyone from the flying public to governments. People for the most part, however, know very little about how extensive the various tests are to ensure the safety of those in the air and on the ground.
Air safety can, in general, be broken down into two main categories: pilot training and mechanical integrity. Pilots are tested and re-tested on a regular basis for any and all possible scenarios, in all weather conditions, while aircraft and engines are tested to extremes far beyond normal operational limits.
Although many of us have heard of bird strike testing, where frozen chickens are fired at high speed at aircraft cockpit windows and jet engines, many of the more serious tests that could prevent a catastrophic failure of the aircraft are often kept secret by aircraft manufacturers.
One of these tests is known as a blade off test. Although it doesnt happen often (thankfully!), sometimes a jet engine fan blade will fail. When this occurs, it will usually destroy an engine, but if the damage is contained inside the engine casing, the plane will usually be able to continue safely on its way to the nearest airport.
The imminent launch of the A380 Airbus in 2005 saw the aircrafts manufacturer lift the lid on the normally secret testing for such catastrophic failures, allowing the world to see what happens.
Reducing a £9 million jet engine to a pile of junk in just seconds, the blade off test demonstrates the lengths aircraft manufacturers will go to when designing and building new models.
Construction of the aircrafts different components is just one part of the process, and with hundreds of in-flight tests to be performed, an aircrafts flight-worthiness and performance will be checked and re-checked to make certain they meet with the design criteria. It takes years for aircraft to go from drawing board to being granted an air worthiness certificate.
So, next time you step onto a plane, especially if youre a nervous flyer, just stop for a few minutes and think about the thousands of work hours and the hundreds of millions of pounds that have been spent to ensure your safety and that of your fellow passengers. Its no wonder that flying remains the statistically safest way to travel.
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