Topic: | Re:Re:BA Flight Lands Short of Runaway at Heathrow | |
Posted by: | David Darlow | |
Date/Time: | 05/02/09 11:46:00 |
"Being under a flight path does not significantly increase danger to your life." It hardly needs re-stating that the most dangerous moments in flight are on landing and take-off....i.e. on or near the flight-path, and close to the airport. That is when the majority of accidents occur. Of the three major UK disasters in recent times, one was caused by terrorism, but the other two (Staines and Kegworth) happened near an airport, and on take-off or landing. It was extremely fortunate that in both cases the aircraft crashed on open ground, narrowly missing built-up areas. Major accidents in the USA (the world's busiest airspace) follow the same pattern. I can recall eighteen major air accidents in the last forty years or so, of which twelve have occurred close to the airport. There was significant loss of life on the ground in half of these. The reason Runway 3 would be an increased danger would not be due to its positioning, necessarily, but due to the huge increase in flights across the capital, which would certainly shorten the odds on a major disaster. |