# Airplane Crashes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 11, 1999, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941 "1999-11-11T02:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/1 "1999-11-11T02:47:00Z")
Do they get too much attention? I think so. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/2 "1999-11-11T03:38:00Z")
Well tenn - it’s kinda newsy when a couple hundred people die in one fell swoop. Add to that the possibility of a mechanical problem in other planes of its kind, the possibility of terrorism, pilot error, etc., it is important to track the event and find out what the hell happened! (Would you go up with Eygptair the day after, not knowing what caused the crash?) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/3 "1999-11-11T03:51:00Z")
Of course they should study the crash to see what happened! That’s not what I meant. It just seems to me that the plane wreck gets more than its share of media attention…200 people die and we hear about that particular crash every day for 3 years. No offense to the grieving families, but 200 deaths is not really a big deal when you consider all the other stuff that kills thousands constantly and more quietly. ---
**Author:** ![Byzantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/4 "1999-11-11T04:03:00Z")
Oh boy! Maybe you might want to shag this on over to the pit… I think they are a news event; however, I don’t think we need every newsperson in town interrupting every 10 minutes to tell me that they don’t have anything to tell me. I saw two newscasts tonight where they speculated, repeatedly, about what MIGHT be on the other black box. News isn’t speculation (well, it shouldn’t be). News is about facts. Wait until you have the facts and THEN tell me. * * * Best! Byz ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/5 "1999-11-11T04:04:00Z")
We hear about it until they find out what happened, then we have to hear about it while they figure out what to do about what happened. This country is also very conspiracy conscious, and I think the media feel they have a duty to keep certain things in the news so nobody can do a cover-up. I think terrorism is the real concern, especially with an Egyptian airline. JFK’s plane - well that was because of his celebrity, not the plane crash. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/6 "1999-11-11T05:59:00Z")
If you hold a ticket to do a little overseas flying there’s a fair chance you’ll be flying on a 767. You’d probably be a little interested in what the FAA found out about that crash. Anyway 200 people fell out of the sky. For 25,000 feet or so they approached the speed of sound. Then radar suggested they leveled off and even climbed for a mile. Then they fell like a rock again and (the radar suggested)disintegrated around 10,000 feet. The process took over 2 minutes. Guillotines are faster. It’s a way you probably wouldn’t want to go. And you probably wouldn’t wish it on an enemy. I agree that this story shouldn’t be covered ad nauseam, but let’s give the media a chance to do it first. _Then_ criticize them for it. ---
**Author:** ![MadPoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/7 "1999-11-11T15:25:00Z")
> [@](#): > > (Would you go up with Eygptair the day after, not knowing what caused the crash?) Sure! What are the chances of it happening twice in a week? * * * [http://www.madpoet.com](http://www.madpoet.com) The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/8 "1999-11-11T21:35:00Z")
What if it was ValueJet? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/9 "1999-11-12T02:00:00Z")
**Doug Bowe** , I was not specifically talking about the crash you refer to. More generally, I was talking about what **Byz** was saying about the coverage of any plane wreck: the _constant_ buzz about what happened, what might have happened, what happened in the past, what may happen in the future, what might have been different had something else have happened, here are the latest gruesome details on how it must have felt to die like that, and on and on and on for weeks, months, years… till I want to scream “just let them rest in peace, okay?” ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-crashes/10941/10 "1999-11-12T15:01:00Z")
Not quite a hijack here, but along the same line, when the shooting occurred in Seattle last week, ABC News did not carry it on their broadcast. Peter Jennings published a message on their website which said, in effect, “48 people are murdered every day in this country, and simply having live helicopter footage of one incident does not make it more newsworthy.” I gained a bit of respect for him because of that. * * * “Come on, Phonics Monkey–drum!”