Complacency and the Qantas A330 Accident of 7 October 2008 (audio - MP3)

The accident earlier this month involving a Qantas Airbus A330 on a
flight from Singapore to Perth seriously injured several
passengers, but didn't result in any fatalities. The event drew
substantial news media attention in Australia and Asia, but very
little attention from major US media. Dr. Todd Curtis of
AirSafe.com believes that this may be an example of how when it
comes to airline events, it's difficult to get the attention of the
US public, or of the policy makers in the US, if no one is killed,
especially when there have not been any fatal airline events
involving US airlines in over two years. The current 26-month
period since the last fatal US event is the longest period without
a passenger fatality on a US airliner since airlines in the US
first began using jet aircraft in 1958. Dr Curtis suggests that
there is always room for improvement, and one way to improve the
system is to study the results of accident investigations,
including the ongoing Qantas investigation. AirSafe.com provides
links to that investigation at http://qantas.airsafe.org.