Introduction
A DC –9, twin-engine plane belonging to ValuJet, a fast rising Airline Company crashes into a swamp and kills everybody on board. This includes the pilots, 105 passengers, and the flight attendants. It is a terrible scene to witness such a scenario especially considering that flights are the safest mode of transport. The term safety is, however, relative when it comes to an accident where almost everybody in the plane is killed thus making it tragic (Langewiesche, 1998). Despite the tragedies that come with plane crashes, the amount of seriousness given to it at the time of occurrence is often quite overwhelming. A thorough investigation is done and the relevant authorities like the FAA have acted upon the findings and drawn new aviation rules. In no time, its business as usual and this makes us wonder if any lesson is learned. In this paper, we are going to look at this particular accident and draw the lessons learned.
There are three types of accidents that may occur in the case of a plane crash. These include procedural accidents which can be solved simply by following the instructions and making sure everything is up to standard. The second accident is the engineered accident which occurs in cases of material failure and thus could have been noted earlier by the designers and test pilots (Langewiesche, 1998).This accident can be prevented by being keen on designs and redesigning the flaws that may cause accidents. The third type which is associated with the ValuJet accident is the system accident. This type of accident often lies beyond the normal understanding and conventional solutions. It is surrounded by quite a lot of factors which may not involve the aircraft alone but also the people controlling the planes, administration, the government and economic factors (Langewiesche, 1998).
Human beings want a lot of things done in no time and in the end they want to gain from such activities. They want cheap and fast means of transport and they will settle for anything that provides that despite the safety. Companies and corporations are out to make profits and they will do it in the most cunning way so long as it is within the law. This is the reason why ValuJet is in the market providing transport by air services at discounted prices while compromising on the benefits of the staff. This includes the underpaid pilots, use of aircraft that if it was up to the writer, could be ruled out.
These are some of the little things that often come to mind when you take a keen look at these situations. Why are we always in a hurry to gain profits other than to look at the standard procedures that would guarantee human safety? It is much better to have all the procedures followed according to the set standards. ValuJet is profiting from refugees of another company and taking advantage of them. This might have a negative impact on the employees and anything might go wrong in such situations leading to plane crashes. We ought to be people who obey the normal standards and ethics of our professions. This includes taking a keen interest in our jobs and not overlooking anything that comes by (Cooke, 2006).
In conclusion, a lot of human lives could be saved if we just stuck to the ethics required of our professions. Even though there is a lot to be desired of the people in the aviation industry, the status quo might remain for quite some time. The alarmists have a point but it does not mean that we have to join them and bring down the entire system. The best lesson one can learn from this is personal change. If you begin by changing your own personality, it might go a very long way in securing a future for other people whose lives may depend on you indirectly.
References
Cooke, D. L., & Rohleder, T.R. (2006). Learning from incidents: from normal accidents to
high reliability. System Dynamics Review, 22(3), 213 – 239.
Langewiesche, W. (1998). The lessons of ValuJet 592. Atlantic Monthly, 281(3), 81 – 97
