There's something sinister about this situation, a WWII account in TVtrope's "Awesomeness By Analysis":
Britain analyzed planes returning from combat, plotting the number of planes returning with holes or damage against position of the holes. Some areas had many planes returning with holes there, while other positions had very few planes returning with holes. The question here is, which sections of the planes should be reinforced.
The correct answer is the spots where fewest planes returned with holes. The other spots with many holes meant the plane could still fly and return after being hit. The spots with few or no holes meant the planes were shot down when hit there.
There's something sinister about that situation, and I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate -- not the situation, but a situation with the similar potential for error -- in a story.
Comments
Failure Cause Analysis
is a wonderful branch of Science/engineering.
I can't say that I'm an expert buyt I did spend a small amount of time working in 'The Failure Department' for an aircraft manufacturer in the 1970's.
We took an airframe off the production line and literally shook it to pieces. We had an open book in the department where we guessed not only where the first place to fall apart was but the order for the first 10 bits.
I thought that the area where the wings met the Fuselage would be the weak point. It wasn't. A good number of test pilots in the 1950's has accidents at high speed/high 'G' due to failures of the airframe in that area so they were made much stronger.
The reasoning that you gave for WW2 work in this area actually makes perfect sense. If a plane got shot up and made it home then the bits that got shot up didn't need attention. Nothing critical was hit. The other areas were far more likely to cause a crash either due to fire/explosion or Airframe failure. If it didn't get home then it would have been hard to find out why it crashed. However, a good deal of crystal ball gazing was involved.
These days, things are a good deal different.
Yes
Yes, once one thinks about it, it does make perfect sense. It's an example of a selection effect in one's data: once once notices the issue, it may be obvious. But all too often, one doesn't notice the issue.
Also it makes sense that the expected weak spot where the wings attach to the fuselage would have been fixed long ago. (It's still a good idea to check just in case.)
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
avro arrow
even the arrow didnt have problems at wing connections only on the ends where turbulance caused an issue. Pity that the final plane and engine went missing. ie only one arrow was ever produced with the iroquois engine and went missing.
Look at vehicles almost all new vehicles have crush zones that are there to enable the passenger compartment to not be damaged. And yet you need a hydralic cutting jaw to get people out of vehicles after crash. Which is why there are so many deaths from various poisons or fires now.
Airbags deploying/ exploding seat beats, are snapping peoples necks.
Yet the new cars are "safer" than the old ones where you got into an accident and drove away. Imagine that.
The manufacturers of cars really really need to rethink the safety features incorparated into cars now. Ive lost a few friends now to "safety" vehicle features that would still be alive today had they driven older vehicles.
Failure analysis doesnt always end up with a safer outcome. Sometimes the "fix" is worse that the original problem.
Car safety
Overall it is safer for infants to ride in the back. Since we've started doing this, fewer die in crashes. But more die from being forgotten in hot cars. On the balance fewer die.
Sinister or not?
Many safety signals use
Many safety signals use flashing lights. School buses have strobe lights on top. Construction vehicles have strobe lights on them. Slow-down signals use flashing lights. Turn signals use flashing lights. Crosswalks use flashing lights.
A small proportion of people can suffer seizures when hit by flashing lights. A somewhat larger proportion can be blinded or can suffer severe disorientation. I've ended up in the street after being hit by safety signals.
I've looked around, online, but haven't been able to find much on the hazards, trade-offs, and disability rights implications of all the flashing lights on and near the road. Although it seems that there are sometimes crashes due to similar effects on helicopters.