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Citysurvivor t1_itqy8w3 wrote

Reply to comment by MuForceShoelace in TIL that flight recorders must be able to withstand an acceleration of 3400 g for 6.5 milliseconds and that this is roughly equivalent to an impact velocity of 270 knots (310 mph; 500 km/h). by IchBinKoloss

Not really. Most accidents happen near the ground, rather unsurprisingly, where the planes are going (relatively) slow because they intend to land or are only just starting to pick up speed to take off. Not to mention the speed limits set by law when operating near airports and at low altitudes.

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surgingchaos t1_itr3733 wrote

This. I love watching and reading about air crash investigations and this is one of the things that they like to stress: most of the accidents happen shortly after takeoff or just before landing. This includes both fatal and non-fatal accidents. The kinds of accidents that happen when a plane suddenly falls from the sky while at cruising altitude are pretty rare.

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southernwx t1_itr4ekf wrote

Well, even with those, the impacts are still when aircraft is landing :D

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threwzsa t1_itrh078 wrote

I studied aircraft accident investigation in college. Fun fact, you can tell if a fire occurred on post crash or in mid air by analyzing which metals have melted and cross referencing their melting points to fire temperatures. Fires burn much hotter in air because the constant flow of oxygen.

Another fun fact. In prop airplanes you can tell if the engines were running at high speed vs if they running on low power based off the way the props are bent. If they are bent forwards then they were running at high speed at the time of impact and if they are bent backwards towards the aircraft then they were running at low speed.

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kaotate t1_itrin2e wrote

Black Box Down is the podcast for you.

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