Comment by tempestn
3 years ago
> No amount of systems redundancy could have made it a safe flight.
But it did! One obvious example being the redundancy that allowed the plane to fly safely despite one of the engines not restarting.
The plane encountered an entirely unpredicted situation that caused damage, but thanks to its design was still able to land safely.
They got lucky because when they descended after the engines died, the engine cooling caused small physical size changes and the caked/burned ash just fell off the rotor bits allowing the engine to work again.
To RetroTechie’s point, they got lucky. No design decision saved them. Without that they’d have been a glider until they hit 0ft and it likely would have been far worse.
We’ve clearly gotten very good at flying, managing most weather conditions we’re likely to fly through, the mechanics/maintenance of the planes, and pilot training.
I’ve gained a ton of appreciation for how detailed our preparations are from watching Air Disasters. But we just can’t control everything, some danger is inherent.