Military Jet Crashes Because It Was Improperly Assembled... That's Not Great
Washington (CNN)Investigators have concluded that a $22 million US Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed near Joint Base Andrews, Maryland earlier this year because its engine was improperly assembled and was missing key parts, the service announced Thursday. Original Article Here.
And OH BOY we're not as good at building planes as I thought. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like we’re past the point where “improperly assembled” is a valid excuse for why an aircraft crashes.
We’re not building these out of canvas, duct tape, and 2x4’s anymore, and you can’t just “wing it” when building a plane. I’m a big pusher of “a little bit of spit and glue can fix anything” but I’ll be the first to say, if you’re in charge of building an airplane- don’t listen to me. Don’t use spit and glue, use your assigned tools. And, god forbid, if you’re missing a “600-degree training ring and the anti-rotation pin” put your hand up and say something; in fact, do anything but continue building the plane.
I mean look at the explanation for how these pieces went missing:
“… the maintenance group was faulted in the report for having inadequate procedures for keeping track of spare parts which was described as a "substantially contributing factor" in the crash.”
Mmmm ok that sounds a whole lot like losing all the wooden pegs that come with your Ikea furniture. They seem simple, and they’re pretty easy to lose because, newsflash, they’re just little pieces of wood- and yet, your table will fall apart without them. What a kicker. My point is that an F16 crashing into a forest and my Ikea furniture falling apart should not have the same explanation. I just assumed that robots were building all of our planes, but hey, wrong again we’ve just got the same dudes working on them who lose all the puzzle pieces.
I’m boycotting human service. I don’t care if the machines eventually take us over. I’d rather my great-grandkids die in a robot-human war than me die because somebody had their jet assembly instructions upside down.
P.S. Please do not show this blog to my great-grandkids.
