Why do you model accidents in the US?

Accidents can happen at any time and since the US is such a big country, modeling the airplane accident can tell the whole country exactly what the problem is. Factors such as terrain, airplane condition, pilot imparement, location of components and damage onsite will yield some surprising answers.

One rather famous accident that was modeled had to do with wind shear. It was in Denver, I believe, and wind shear had not been discovered. But the modeling of that serious accident showed that wind shear at a certain time in that city created the accident. Now there are wind shear baffles in place in every airport with that particular type of terrain.

Other instances involved explosion due to strange wiring that was repaired in all aircraft of that class, improvements to safety features on board the aircraft, and "black box" improvements that yield more accurate results.

The entire reason to do such a process is to preserve life. American aircraft are among the safest in the world simply because we model the accidents.

AnswerThink of it as CSI for aircraft accidents. If you can re-create the event, then you can learn from it. The most difficulty for an accident investigator is to collect the evidence and probe into unknown factors while keeping his mind clear of any pre-set conclusions. As stated above, many new causes of accidents have been discovered by diligent investigative work.

Link: NTSB Aircaft Accident Investigation site where you can review reports of every aircraft accident and complete finding reports on several high-profile accidents.

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/aviation.htm