Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes Essay

One of the most dangerous conflicts and errors man could ever have is flying a large aircraft with airy heads and angry mouths. This happened in one of the flights of the Korean Airlines particularly the Korean Airlines flight 2033, an Airbus A300 which happened four years ago. Piloted by Captain Barry Woods, a Canadian national and co-piloted by a Korean national Chung Chan Kuy. The clashed between the two started when the Airbus was approaching a rain slicked airport when Co-pilot Chung asked Captain Woods to â€Å"go around† because he is hesitant to land the craft due to insufficient distance of Runway 6 of Cheju Airport in South Korea. The captain did not mind his Co-pilot’s concern regarding the runway and told his Co-pilot to get off while flying the through a tropical storm with up to 30 mph gusting winds. On the runway, Co pilot Chung pulled the plane off when the plane has touched the ground that made the Pilot Woods furious about what Chung has done and instructed the cockpit crew to open the cockpit window and get their evacuation slides. Being in the matter of life and death situation made these two pilots unmindful of whatever positions they have. They even forgot to follow the standard operating procedures, protocols or guidelines that the cockpit crew should follow during emergency situations. In this incident, the Co-pilot insubordinates his superior by not following the captain’s call or decision making them clash putting their passengers’ life at risk. The Co-pilot’s action in this situation drifted the pilot’s decision in landing the craft safely and made it more dangerous for the lives of their passengers because of unethical insubordination the Co-pilot has caused. Chung might have thought that landing the craft in a slippery and short runway would led to accidental landing so he decided to pull off the plane without his captain’s orders causing them to argue on this matter. Imagining the situation while on board a beleaguered airbus, the cockpit crew might have been hesitant to land the aircraft due to the raging storm and miscalculated the runway making the two pilots disagree whether to land or abort the landing. Being board on a troubled plane triggered uncontrollable conflicts or disagreements because of the tensed and uneasy situation. In whatever situation man would be, crew or staff, especially those on board the plane or ship maybe, the staff should have the instinct to be calm in whatever situation they might be and practice the standard operating procedures or protocols that they had undergone during trainings and execute the emergency procedures effectively and efficiently to avoid further accidents and they should always follow instructions given by their superiors no matter what happen because they were trained to do so. References Fatal Words – Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes, (1994), Steven Cushing, University of Chicago Press http://www. airdisaster. com/cvr/kal2033. shtml http://www. airfleets. net/vcrash/crash_report_Korean%20Air_HL7296. htm http://www. planecrashinfo. cpm/1994/1994-50. htm