A Brief Look Into Alaska Flight 261

A detailed Summary of A Brief Look Into Alaska Flight 261

There I was flying along at 13,000 feet with no feeling of alarm. "Goldfish," my dad said. My family and I sat there in first class on an Alaska Airlines DC-10 on our way to Disney Land. The cards kept us happy along with the constant Sprite refills we received. As a little kid, that is all I could possibly want, a good game of goldfish with my dad and constant bags of peanuts. My ride was going great. All of the sudden I felt the Sprite and peanuts rise to my chest. Before I could think about it, meal trays were spilt, our cards were scattered, and everyone was talking. "We have just experienced some heavy turbulence," the pilot announced. We lost 2500 feet in one second. It made me think of how quickly our airplane could have hit the ground.

Air travelers are constantly coming up with concerns about traveling safety. Among these concerns is airworthiness. Is an airplane safe to fly? This is a concern because people want to feel confident they are safe when aboard an airplane. Most of us have been on an airplane, for a family vacation, business trip, or maybe to visit the relatives on the holidays. I am sure the thought of crashing has gone through everyone's mind. What if there were a c

rash and my friends and I were on board? What went wrong? What caused the crash? These are the questions investigators are trying to answer regarding Alaska flight 261.

As a result of briefly looking into Alaska Airlines Flight 261, I have learned passengers do feel safe aboard airplanes and how quickly tragic things can happen aboard a airplane. The sky is a place where there is no room for error and pilots must be ready for every situation. It is comforting to know that when a situation surpasses a pilot's ability and results in tragedy that there are teams of investigators solving the problems, and making new regulations so the same incident won't happen again. That is why passengers feel confident in airline safety. It is rare that airlines will make the same mistake twice. As a result of the Alaska crash I am sure Alaska airlines will be even safer, and all stabilizer components will be inspected and replaced more frequently as you can already see on the news.

The results of the survey were: "seventy-five percent of respondents indicated the accident would not affect a decision to fly Alaska Airlines in the future, while 19 percent said their likelihood of flying Alaska has decreased." (Poll par. 3) The poll also asked questions about the aftermath of the crash and aviation safety. "Ninety seven percent said, Alaska responded in the aftermath of the crash as well as, or better than, other airlines in similar situations." (Poll par. 4) "Two thirds of the polls respondents believe aviation safety has increased in the past decade." (Poll par. 5) The survey reinforced the fact that people are confident in airline travel despite the terrible crash. People still realize aviation safety is improving and that the airlines intentions are to be safe.

"Poll: Crash isn't scaring travelers away" by Chuck Taylor, is the article I found. The poll studies boarding patterns and market trends of Seattle following the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. The U.S. Department of Transportation compiled the data. (Poll par.1) The U.S. department of Transportation answers two questions: "How was Alaska traffic affected by the news of the crash?" "Did passengers shun the MD-80 family of planes nationwide in the weeks after the January 31 accident?" It polled 427 households statewide. "Some of the findings are subject to a 5 percent margin of error." (Poll par. 2)

Some common words found in the essay are:
Disney Land, Earth Data, Barry Schiff, Alaska Airlines, Seattle Times, Seattle January, Airlines Flight, Department Transportation, Hall Data, Oklahoma City, flight 261, data par, alaska airlines, prior crash, alaska flight 261, seattle times, alaska flight, poll par, flight data, aviation safety, damaged crash, hall data par, alaska airlines flight, search seattle times, killed 88 people,

Approximate Word count = 1927
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science