Use of Aircraft Crash Cases in Teaching Engineering (with notation)

Discussions of engineering disasters have been widely used in teaching engineering ethics.However consideration of such disasters can also be used in a number of other ways in engineering education.For example, engineering disasters can be used to discuss operational aspects of engineering which are often not considered in the teaching of engineering, and they can be used to illustrate how operational problems, if properly analyzed, can be used in improving engineering devices and processes.The discussion of engineering disasters can also be used to illustrate the importance of using correct and adequately monitored maintenance procedures in the operation of engineering devices and systems.The discussion of engineering disasters can also be used to illustrate many aspects of engineering science.As well, such discussions can also be used to illustrate how difficult it is in many cases to determine the cause of a failure.Commercial aircraft crashes provide a rich source of material for use in such teaching and some examples of such crashes and of how they can be used in engineering education are discussed in this paper.