One day before my flight a plane crashed at Barajas Airport in Madrid. Around 150 people died and this was so close. A lot of helicopters and ambulances could be heard in the city.
The left engine failed during take off and made the airplane crash on the airport. It must have been terrible for the passengers because it was the second try to take off. The plane had a lot of fuel inside, which causes a really big fire.
A member of the Sin Futuro team 'Boris' didn't think this was just an accident. In a conversation with him he told me that 3 months before the crash Barajas airport had fired 25 % of the employees. "including 68 mechanics". They did this because they couldn't pay them anymore.
What happened was that there was a shortage of mechanics on the airport which meant the Pilots had to dubbelcheck their planes themselves. These people were not trained for this but had to do it because they had the best knowledge about the plane.
I was glad the next day the atmosphere on the airport was really relaxed so I could have a relaxing flight..
What I also found Interesting is how Twitter was used to inform other people about the crash. Within 10 minutes I got 58 tweets which informed me about what happened, how many deaths, flight details etc. Also people used twitpic to show the world of twitter what it looked like from the Highway.
I think Twitter is becoming a very up to date social newsroom...
3 comments:
Maybe you should learn more about your subject. Pilots alway check their own aircraft and have the last say in if they take it up or not. Airport mechanics are not responsible for a whole lot on the apron to be fair. This was not an "airport" problem, never has been and never will be. It is an "airline" problem, probably a Spanair mechanic.
You clearly have more knowledge about this subject, however this was told to me, and thought it was an interesting way of looking to the crash. Also how the crash affected new media. I don't pretend that I know what happened. I am just looking sideways ;-)..
You are right, is interesting how Twitter can be used. Some months ago, in the earthquake of China, I read that some students in a university was in their room and they informed via twitter about this earthquake... in few minutes a lot of people was informed with this little message. I Chile, a firemen team was using twitter to be more informed of fires... definitely twitter have a lot of uses.
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