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Comment by cyberlimerence | Hacker News Reader

Tragically it appears that out of 181 onboard only two have survived. If true, this would be South Korea’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster. [1][2]

[1] https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241229001054315 [2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/29/south-kor...

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After watching the video it’s amazing that anyone survived

Apparently two survivors are the crew members who were at the tail section. Even if (big if) their physical injuries are not critical, they are likely permanently psychologically scarred. I somehow doubt you can continue working in an airline after that.

“ a Serbian flight attendant who survived the highest fall without a parachute: 10.16 kilometres (6.31 miles) or 33,338 feet … She had little to no memory of the incident and had no qualms about flying in the aftermath of the crash. Despite her willingness to resume work as a flight attendant, Jat Airways (JAT) gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts, feeling her presence on flights would attract too much publicity.“ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87

Not everyone is that fragile.

A lot of people would assume that their odds of being involved in two crashes are basically zero and go on working.

To the contrary, the psychological reaction is likely “If the nearly impossible could happen to me, the chances are much higher than I thought.” It may not be correct, but traumatic experiences don’t exactly lead to rational thought.

Interesting use of fragile - you must be an aviation accident survivor? I would love to hear the details!

Yeah, calling "fragile" someone who's afraid after an airplane crash has to be peak Hacker News

To be fair, the way he worded it called them NOT fragile. I think he has a point. We don't know how they are mentally, some might be fine, some might be not. Ascribing the way we think we would feel about it to the survivors feels wrong somehow.

Some other people would recognize that the failures are basically independent, so their odds of getting in another accident is the same.

Its probably not entirely independent, anyone who knows these two were the only survivors of a crash will probably work to ensure things are extra careful unconsciously

Fragile? Did you watch the video?

How bad must it be for you?

A lot of people would assume that their odds of being involved in two crashes

Their odds?! These are crew members. They likely looked a good number of these people in the eye and interacted with them before seeing them all violently killed in front of them. That's a profoundly traumatizing experience.

Additionally, our brains aren't wired for odds. A veteran is unlikely to be hit by artillery in the US, but that doesn't stop them having PTSD episodes when fireworks go off.

Would it be reasonable to increase the length of the runway (or longer non-blocking area) based on these incidents, even if they are extremely rare.

Do gravel traps work with planes..?

Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) are installed in the overrun area of many but certainly not all runways. No idea about this airport. And I’m not sure how effective EMAS is in a gear-up landing such as this accident.

EMAS does not help in a belly landing at all. It's engineered to be crushed by the wheels.

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