why does planes like 747s blow up so easily?

Question

I watch these videos about jumbo jets, and they show some air disasters. and like this video for example, that plane merely hit a little bump onto the grass the the engine or whatever nearly exploded. I am surprise that more planes doesnt explode in midair if they hit a bird or eagle etc

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dFwEMh1qlRo

Answer 1

That little flash of flame from the port inner? That was just the engine breaking up when it was squished between the wing and the ground, it was a long long way from exploding.

Aircraft are quite tough, and designed to handle stresses and strains that would leave their passangers very frightened. But they aren't designed to be dropped into a ditch at 60mph. If you ran your car off the runway at that speed it would probably be quite an unpleasant experience, I think in this case the aircraft held up well, though the damage was probably in the millions of dollars. Ah, here's the 'after' shots, I wonder if they repaired it?

http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f312/B747FR8DAWG/Tradewinds%20747/

Here's the brief details:

07 JUN 2006 Boeing 747 runway overrun at Medellin Tradewinds International Airlines' Boeing 747-200F N922FT was damaged after sustaining an engine failure on takeoff from Rionegro / Medellín-José María Córdova Airport (MDE/SKRG). Takeoff was aborted but the airplane overran the wet runway and came to rest 150 m past the runway end. MDE has a single 3500 m long runway. The airport was closed from 07:05 to 09:40. (El Tiempo)

Planes aren't all that strong against forces they weren't designed for, like your knee just falls to pieces if I kick it from the side. A plane that could survive any and all possible events would be called Abrahms and wouldn't fly very well.

Aha! The aircraft was scrapped in-place

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1121679/M/

Answer 2

Gee... who need the NTSB with you to be able to analyze what happened in this accident after seeing just
a 12 second clip. Where do you get your idea that 747's blow up so easily...be specific.

It could have be and engine failure, poor engine maintenance, something blown through the engine...any number of things. Hitting the bump, if that is what is was, didn't cause the engine to flame out....not nearly explode.

And do you really think that a 747 is going to explode if a bird strikes it in midair? I guess you learned that when you were earning your engineering and aeronautical design degrees....right?

Sorry to disappoint you but with all the air travel I have done I experienced one flight where the plane (767) encounter a bird strike...and the plane didn't blow up or crash. On another flight the 727 was struck by lighting and it didn't blow either.

747 don't blow up easily...unless someone uses explosives or other means of intentional destruction.

How many 747s did you think have blown up...or exploded in midair?

Answer 3

Planes don't just blow up. If an aircraft crashes there is a strong possibility of fire due to ignition of the fuel on board. Merely hitting a "bump in the grass" won't cause an aircraft to explode. The fact that they don't just explode as a result of a bird strike pretty much proves my point.

Answer 4

Modern Civil Avation is the safest form of travel there is.
Jugger's answer sums most of it up. As far as bird strikes, happens every day, sometimes you don't even know it happend sometimes the damge is minor, sometimes it's MAJOR and you lost the aircraft. Aircraft are hit by lightening on a daily basis but they do not explode on a regular basis.
Why do cars wreck so easy?
Same reasons planes do. Human Error, Weather and Mechical Failure. Every A/C accident can be trace to those 3 causes

Answer 5

Because unless controlled under their ideal circumstances aircraft are nothing more than 35 tonne , hollow missles , full of 35000 litres of high octane avgas fuel, travelling at 800km/h. Modern aircraft design has inbuilt safety devices to automatically cut off fuel to damaged engines & on-board fire extinguishing systems , however with enough thrust out of commision or control edges damages you don't get the necessary wing lift or unstable control surfaces. When this happens the "people missile" is now unguided on a one way journey to gravitys center...KABOOM !

Answer 6

Airplanes do not blow up easily...it is extremely rare. What you are seeing isnt an explosion, its just fuel burning. If you can come up with some way to invent a non-flammable fuel that still burns in aircraft engines, you'd be a rich person.

Answer 7

i hate to break it to you but that jet wasnt going that slow when it ''hit a little bump'' in the grass that jet was probably going over 100 knots...look at the wings flexing when it stops .. so what we will do is take your car bring it up to 115mph run it into a little bump and see what it does... and airplanes dont explode they burn....the fuel ignites and burns it doesnt explode into a million pieces

Answer 8

Gee , maybe you should complain to Boeing. May-be the don't know about this important information .

Answer 9

They generally don't blow up easily!

Thousands of cars crash everyday though.

Answer 10

because of the highly
flamable fuel they use