Accidents have helped improve airline safety

Question: How do you know an airplane was properly designed for a safe flight?

Answer: The safety and reliability of today’s modern airplanes has come from decades of improvements and some tragic accidents. One of the early ones was in March 1931, when a TWA

F-10 crash killed one of the most wellknown football coaches in America, Knute Rockne of Notre Dame. The Fokker F-10 tri-motor was flying from Kansas City to Wichita when the wooden wing spar failed due to moisture.

After this accident, airplanes would have metal spars — never again would an airliner lose a wing from wood rot. Designs improved and the first modern airliner, the Boeing 247, began to fly passengers. However, it was the

DC-3 that became the icon of American aviation in the 1930s.

The certification of the DC-3 required many new safety standards. Should an engine fail, the airplane must be able to climb, fly and land safely. Fire extinguishing systems and modernized navigations systems were included. These were new, but as World War II approached, these additions were critical to the improving safety of aviation.

During the war years, the need for range, payload and speed brought new designs and new certification standards. Pressurized cabins, engine fire extinguishers and weather radar became a part of airline operations.

Each of these improvements had to meet growing standards by expanded testing. Years of testing are now the norm before a passenger walks down the aisle and settles into a seat for a flight.