Missing Malaysia Airlines Jet Had 'Ground Collision' in 2012

[jakeXT]

Source: NBC News

The Malaysia Airlines jet which vanished over the South China Sea on Friday was involved in a "ground collision" with another aircraft in 2012, according to a report by a French government agency.

The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile (BEA) carries out safety investigations relating to accidents or serious incidents in civil aviation.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/missing-malaysia-airlines-jet-had-ground-collision-2012-n47706

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On 25 May 2002, China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes into the Taiwan Strait just 20 minutes after taking off from Taipei, killing 225 people. A faulty repair to the lower rear skin of the aircraft more than 20 years earlier following a tailstrike, caused the entire tail section to weaken and fail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_611

I hope it wasn't caused by shoddy repairs.

[LiberalEsto]

1. The repairs could have been fine, but that collision might have caused stress damage

to components of the plane.

[itsrobert]

2. yes, this could be it

Did Boeing inspect it after the ground collision?

[mackerel]

3. what is the life span of a plane?

[Duckhunter935]

5. forever

if properly maintained

[Travis_0004]

6. The 777 was first launched in 1995

So the plane that crashed was pretty new (I don't know when it was put into service, it could have been well past 1995), at least as far as planes go, and age was not a factor (lack of maintenance, possibly, but not age)

I agree with the other poster, planes really don't have a set life, but eventually maintenance gets very expensive, and they are less fuel efficient than more modern airplanes, so they are scrapped for cost reasons.

Delta recently (Jan 2014) got rid of the last DC-9. Some of those planes were built in the 60's. Even so, I doubt the planes were scrapped, they were probably sold to somebody else. Delta's oldest plane is now the MD-88, which averages about 25 years old.

I think 50 years is about the limit, in the US, mainly due to cost concerns (as least for large jets), and even most carriers don't like to go that old. In other countries, where airliners can not afford new planes, and don't have the same level of maintenance, older are a bit more common.

The Iranian air force has a few 747's that were built in 1969, and the early 70's that are still flying.

[enlightenment]

7. It was 11.8 years old,

according to a report I saw last night.

[Igel]

4. And so the two inevitable story lines are established.

Terrorism.

One will be by a non-government group against, ultimately, some government over repression. Probably US repression. Certainly somehow Western, even if it is found to be targetted at the Chinese.

One will be by corporate-based greed and self-enrichment. Any evidence that could turn up otherwise is meant to blind us.


The idea of pilot error will be a whitewash. Either to spare the right sensibilities or to blame a worker for management's shortcomings. Simple, unforeseen mechanical failure is not an option because there's no real blame to be apportioned, and we humans need to believe in a world where everything happens because of some blameable or responsible agent.

[enlightenment]

8. You know,

it used to be that you could predict whether or not the conclusion would be pilot error based on whether or not one or both pilots survived.

If they didn't survive, it was pilot error.

Perhaps it would be better to wait until they find the plane before leaping to a conclusion about what determination of fault will be made?