Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuart C
Think about this logically.. If they lose a plane, how much would it cost to replace? About two to three hundred million dollars ( http://www.boeing.com/commercial/prices/ ) for a 747.
Now add in the costs for the inevitable legal actions (which depending on which country the action takes place in may include punitive damages). This will cost millions.
Now multiply that by the number of flights that each airline makes in one day (which can be hundreds)
Finally, factor in the damage caused to their reputation when people start thinking that the airline was willing to risk their lives to save a few pounds..
That kind of loss of reputation bankrupted Pan Am (then one of the largest airlines) after Lockerbie.
Now, do you *really* think the airlines would risk all that cost to save a few £million? |
What I know from working within the aviation industry is like this.
A plane crashes somewhere in the world, and it is found a minor fault in a planes system is to blame.
The A/C reg makers (EASA / FAA / CAA etc) make the decision to either a mandatory fix, or recommendation.
Say the fix is a recommendation, the airline looks at it and says the fix on all the affected A/C will cost £250 million (yes that is possible), but the risk of another plane crashing is very slim, and if one does go down it would cost in payouts £200 milion, they would chose the latter.
The cost I quoted can happen, bearing in mind that a 737 has approx 2 million parts, and some of these aren't cheap. I had to purchase a CMM which was less than 40 pages and cost £5,000.
---------- Post added at 22:52 ---------- Previous post was at 22:43 ----------
CMM = Component Maintenance Manual
---------- Post added at 22:58 ---------- Previous post was at 22:52 ----------
Where I worked they have 3 versions of the BAe-146 they are:
-200QT
-300QT
-200QC
There was an Aircaft Maintenace Manual for each type (Luckly the QTs used the same manual, as the only difference was the length.)
The QC (quick change) was a frieghter/Passenger varient.
So I had to maintain two sets of manuals each was 20 volumes and each volume was approx 5" thick.
Each set cost around £80,000 to buy and another annual payment of £15,000.
---------- Post added at 22:59 ---------- Previous post was at 22:58 ----------
Final point though
you are far safer flying than you are driving