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Editor: James T. Crouse
Profession: Aviation Accident Attorney

Category: Plane Crashes

Flying in a commercial airliner is very safe - more than 30,000 flight took off daily in 2007 with only one disaster. When tragedy does happen and a plane crash happens, investigators sift through the wreckage and exam the cockpit recorders - everything in their power to answer the question we all ask. . ."WHY?"

Through these investigations, crucial safety improvements are made that make each flight a bit safer for us. Here are some of the flights that made a difference in aviation today.

1. 1956 - TWA and United flights flying over the Grand Canyon and out of contact with ground controllers, collided and crashed, killing 138 people.
UPGRADE: Improvements of air traffic control system and creation of the FAA in 1958 to oversee safety.

2. 1983 - A Canada Air DC-9 had smoke coming out of the rear lavatory. Black smoke soon filled the cabin and the plane made an emergency decent. Twenty-three of the 46 people on board died.
UPGRADE: Smoke detectors in the lavatories and automatic fire extinguishers.

3. 1985 - A Delta Lockheed crashed at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport killing 134 of the 163 people on board because the plane encountered a microburst wind shear - a strong downdraft. This launched a NASA/FAA seven-year research effort.
UPGRADE: Downdraft Detection became standard equipment.

4. 1986 - An Aeromexico DC-9 crashed killing 82 people, including 15 on the ground when a small private plane wandered into the Los Angeles terminal control area. Both planes crashed to the ground.
UPGRADE: The FAA required all small aircraft entering into control areas to use "transponders" that broadcast position and altitude to controllers.

In 1991, the FAA began the National Aging Aircraft Research Program after a large portion of a fuselage blew off a Boeing 737, sweeping the flight attendant out of the plane in 1988. Fatigue and corrosion were blamed for the incident.

These are only a few of the lessons learned and preventative steps taken due to airline disasters. Although the heartbreak remains for the families of these victims, we may just owe our lives to those who perished because we are now safer because of what was learned from those fateful flights.