Mechanical Failure-Related Aviation Accidents

Over the years, there have been many aviation accidents due to mechanical failures and mechanical-related pilot errors (a mechanical-related pilot error is the one in which pilot error was the actual cause but brought about by some kind of mechanical failure). A worldwide study of 1,300 fatal accidents involving commercial aircraft (i.e., excluding aircraft with 10 or fewer people on board and helicopters), during the period 1950-2008, revealed 134 accidents due to mechanical failure and 25 accidents due to mechanical-related pilot error [4]. It is to be noted that these two types of accidents are out of those accidents whose cause was identifiable. The decade breakdowns of these two types of accidents are presented in Table 5.1 [4]. 

Decade Breakdowns of World Fatal Commercial Aircraft Accidents due to Mechanical Failure and Mechanical-Related Pilot Error, 1950-2008 

Some of the aviation accidents occurring due to mechanical failure are briefly described below. 

United Airlines Flight 859 Accident. This accident occurred on July 11, 1961, and is associated with the United Airlines Flight 859 (aircraft type Douglas DC-8-20), a scheduled flight from Omaha, Nebraska, to Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado [10]. The flight crashed during landing at the Stapleton International Airport because the aircraft suffered a hydraulic failure while en route and caused 18 fatalities and 84 injuries. 

1986 British International Helicopters Chinook Accident. This accident occurred on November 6, 1986, and is associated with a Boeing 234LR Chinook helicopter operated by British International Helicopters [11]. The helicopter on approach to land at Sumburgh Airport, Shetland Islands, U.K., crashed into the sea and sank because of the failure of a modified level ring gear in the forward transmission. The accident resulted in 45 fatalities and 2 injuries. 

---

Discuss the following mechanical failure-related aviation accidents ... 

Chapter 5 is devoted to transportation systems failures. Some of the topics covered in the chapter are mechanical failure-related aviation accidents, vehicle failure classifications, rail defects and weld failures, rail and road tanker failure modes and failure consequences, ship failures and their consequences, and failures in marine environments and microanalysis techniques for failure investigation. Chapter 6 presents a total of 11 mathematical models for performing various types of reliability analysis of transportation systems. 

---