An hour after takeoff at the Kuala Lumpur Airport, it disappeared from radars. The Malaysian Airlines plane has not been found to this day. It was heading for Beijing with 239 persons on board. On 8th April, a month has passed since the machine got lost.
Interview with Prof. Krzysztof Sibilski from the Wrocław University of Technology Division of Aviation Engineering.
Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz: We have heard many times about objects floating on the Indian Ocean that could be parts of the plane. However, we still don’t know what really happened with it.
Prof. Krzysztof Sibilski: Unfortunately, most plane crashes are caused by human mistakes.
So, it indeed was a crash?
In my opinion, yes.
And what could be the reason?
One of the reasons of the Malaysian plane crash could be a sudden decompression in the cabin. In such situations, the pilots try to lower their flight level. As a result, the plane could have got very close to the surface of the ocean.
What happens in such situation?
The automatic flight control system set the flight level on an altitude of a few dozen metres. In such case, the plane wouldn’t be visible to flight control systems.
The plane becomes “invisible”?
Flight at a very low altitude could be detected by the AWACS system. But nobody sends planes with such systems on the ocean, unless for military purposes.
What effects could be brought by a sudden decompression?
The death of all passengers and the crew, naturally. And then, when the plane runs out of fuel, it falls into the ocean. If the water landing is performed on very deep water, and in this case we are talking about a depth of about 7 000 m, finding the black box with the recordings of flight parameters may turn out impossible.
Looking for a plane in the immensity of the ocean is like seeking a needle in a haystack?
Even the most refined technology is helpless when faced with the elements. We have to realize our weakness against the might of the ocean.
Flying over the ocean is dangerous?
Contemporary technology allows to reach a level of ER = 1 (ER – elementary risk determined on the basis of the probability of crash) for transatlantic flights. As a comparison, the ER value for travelling in a car from the center of Wrocław to the Copernicus Airport amounts to 37.
Interviewer: Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz
Translation: Dariusz Więcławski
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