Category Archives: English

A Flight to Remember

MH370

What happened to Malaysian Airlines Flight 370? That is the question that for a month has been asked again and again by relatives, authorities and not least the media. Why?

Because the disappearance of a modern passenger jet with 239 people aboard it is more than a tragedy, more than a disaster. It questions some of our most fundamental understandings of how the world is supposed to work.

The great scientific revolution of the 16th and the 17th centuries and the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th provided Man with much insight into the inner workings of Nature. This enabled us to innovate and industrialize, especially in Europe and the USA, in the 19th century to such a degree that we came to think that Man had conquered Nature with technology.

Then came the sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage in 1912. Was this the nemesis after Man’s hubris? A reminder from Nature that even that largest ship in the world, claimed by some to be unsinkable, was no match for a single iceberg in the North Atlantic? Even after a century, the Titanic is still one of the best known events in the history of disasters. It was, as Walter Lord chose as the title of his account, truly a “night to remember“.

If the 19th century had been the Age of Technology, and the 20th century was the Age of Information, the 21st century so far is the Age of Surveillance. The Internet, social media, CCTV, satellites, drones and smartphones with cameras and GPS connects everything in a transparent grid governed by dark forces deep within covert organizations. The NSA is listening in on our conversations, Facebook knows our wants and wishes better than ourselves, and Google reads our mail. There are no secrets anymore.

Then how could MH370 vanish without a trace? Newton taught us that every effect must have a cause, and that there is a linear relationship between the two. The scientists of the Enlightenment dreamt of predicting everything from full knowledge of the present. In the 19th century Man beat nature – and then Nature struck back. And just when we thought that all privacy had been lost, that everything was connected, this happened.

MH370 is Schrödinger’s Cat for real – the cat that is dead and not-dead at the same time, at not until we open the box will it collapse into one of the two states. We are dealing with a missing cause with no effect, another sign that Man by far is not up to the fight with Nature, a mystery that works contrary to what we thought was possible.

The fragile understandings of our world have been shaken by the mere disappearance of a symbol of control. And while we struggle with the uncertainties of the 21st century we are entertained by conspiracy theories providing us with cheap explanations in the absence of deeper meaning.

This will be a Flight to Remember for the rest of the century.

Katastrofehistorie #4: Is på vingerne

Frem til udgivelsen af min næste bog 100 års katastrofer i efteråret blogger jeg små katastrofehistorier, som sætter fokus på det ofte katastrofale samspil mellem mennesker og maskiner. Del, kommenter og tip mig gerne om andre spændende cases!

Kaptajnen og andenpiloten på den Boeing 737, der landede i Washington National Airport den 13. januar 1982, var langt hjemmefra. De fløj for Air Florida og var derfor vant til at flyve under varmere himmelstrøg. Den snestorm, som lukkede lufthavnen i Washington umiddelbart efter deres ankomst, repræsenterede således en naturskabt udfordring, som de ikke havde megen erfaring med at håndtere.

Piloterne var ikke opmærksomme på, at den kemiske opløsning, som man påfører flykroppen for at smelte is og sne, ikke er ufejlbarlig, og at man altid skal inspicere flyet grundigt manuelt før takeoff. I stedet startede de uden videre motorerne, da uvejret var drevet over, og gjorde sig klar til at gå i luften. Flyets hjul var begravet i sne, men det problem forsøgte piloterne at løse ved at vende jetstrømmen og bakke – hvorved en mængde sne og isstykker blev suget ind i motorerne.

Det lykkedes Air Florida Flight 90 at komme i luften, men kort efter starten gik det galt: Kombinationen af vingernes nedsatte løfteevne pga. overisningen og motorernes lave ydeevne som følge af is og vanddråber i forbrændingskammeret gjorde, at flyet kun opnåede en højde af ca. 100 meter, før det indledte et fatalt dyk.

Fem bilister blev dræbt, da 737’eren ramte broen ved 14. Street Bridge over Potomac-floden, og 70 passagerer og fire besætningsmedlemmer omkom, da flyet efterfølgende styrtede ned i den tilfrosne flod. Fem personer reddede sig ud fra flyet og evnede at svømme ind til bredden eller blev hevet ud af det kolde vand af personale fra US Park Services, som kort efter katastrofen ankom til stedet i en helikopter.

Katastrofehistorie #1: Det regner med lokomotiver

Frem til udgivelsen af min næste bog 100 års katastrofer i efteråret blogger jeg små katastrofehistorier, som sætter fokus på det ofte katastrofale samspil mellem mennesker og maskiner. Del, kommenter og tip mig gerne om andre spændende cases!

Den 22. oktober 1885 var eksprestoget fra Granville på vej mod Montparnasse-stationen i Paris med lidt for meget fart på, fordi lokoføreren forsøgte at indhente en forsinkelse. Desværre skete der en funktionsfejl på bremsen, hvilket fik lokomotivet med vognstamme til at fortsætte ud over sporstopperen, gennem en væg og videre ned på det parisiske fortov. En forbipasserende kvinde blev det eneste dødsoffer for ulykken.

On October 22 1885 the express train from Granville approached Montparnasse St. in Paris. Earlier in the day there had been a delay, and the driver was trying to catch up. But due to malfunctioning brakes the locomotive falt to halt at the platform. It continued through the stop bars, went through a wall, and ended up on the pedestrian walkway, killing a female bystander.