Inside an Aircraft Accident

Over the past few years I've commented on a few aviation accidents on this website and in one case, I brought news of the tragic passing of a Lewis University student that crashed in a ferry flying accident. Still, as much as someone might read the NTSB reports or know graphic details about an accident, I don't think that a person can really fathom what panic and fear goes on during an actual crash. Luckily I can't speak from experience, yet something that can be perceived as non-life threatening when viewed after-the-fact, can really change the atmosphere in a cabin as it occurs. We see this in a film, captured by a passenger on July 22nd, during a routine landing at LaGuardia (KLGA). In the video we are able to see the calm approach suddenly turn into confusion as the pilot lands hard and the nose wheel collapses.

Keep in mind that no one died and that Southwest airlines maintains the best safety record in the United States, having flown over 18 million flights with zero accidents amounting to passenger fatalities, according to NTSB statistics complied by StatisticBrain.com. Nevertheless, it appears that being involved in any accident is quite a frightening ordeal.

"Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death." - Alexander Chase