Few deaths in 737 jet crash

BRUSSELS — Aviation experts say some recent airline accidents with few or no fatalities show the chances of surviving crashes are better than ever.

They say fuselages are stronger, fire-retardant technology has been improved and plane crews are better trained to deal with disaster.

Wednesday, a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 slammed into a muddy field two miles from the runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Four Boeing employees were among the passengers.

Nine of the 134 people on board died and more than 50 were injured.

"Clearly, this is not just a matter of luck," said William Voss, a former Federal Aviation Administration official who is president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va.

Many accidents don't have such outcomes, of course. Just two weeks ago, a commuter airliner crashed while trying to land in Buffalo, N.Y., killing all 49 people on the plane and a man on the ground.

Experts say most survivable accidents occur at or near airports, generally when a problem occurs during takeoff or landing, but when pilots are able to maintain control, maneuvering to soften the final impact.

Witnesses said the 7-year-old plane was on its final approach about 10:30 a.m. when it dropped like a stone. One of the engines may have broken off, Istanbul-based NTV television reported. The weather was calm, with a light drizzle.

Dutch air traffic controllers would not say whether there was any distress signal as the plane neared the end of its nearly four-hour flight from Istanbul.

Among the dead were two pilots and a junior pilot, said Sandra Groenendal, a Dutch Safety Board official. Most of the passengers were Turkish, and there were more than 30 Dutch.

Four Boeing employees traveling on business were aboard, said company spokesman Jim Proulx. They are based in the Seattle area, he said, declining to give more details until their families had been notified.

He said Boeing was sending a team to provide technical assistance to Dutch safety officials as they investigate. The plane's flight-data recorders were recovered.

The fuselage broke into three large pieces, cracking along stress lines just ahead of the wings' leading edges and in front of the tail unit.

Authorities said the toll could have been far higher if the plane had not gone down in mud, which lessened the impact and helped avert a fire from breaking out in the ruptured fuel tanks and lines on the fuselage underside.

In addition, having reached its destination, the plane would have used up most of its fuel.

It was the latest in a series of accidents the past five years that produced surprisingly few fatalities:

• An Air France Airbus 340 crash-landed at the Toronto airport in 2005. The aircraft was destroyed in the hard landing and ensuing fire, but all escaped unharmed.

• A British Airways Boeing 777 landed just short of the runway at London's Heathrow Airport on Jan. 17, 2008, after losing power on the final approach. The airframe was destroyed, but no one died.

• A Continental Airlines Boeing 737-500 veered off a runway Dec. 20 and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people but causing no fatalities. Four passengers have sued Boeing, alleging it negligently designed and manufactured certain parts of the plane, including its "directional control mechanisms. The complaints contend the defective parts made it hard for the pilots to maintain runway heading while taking off in high crosswinds.

• Last month, all 155 people on board a US Airways Airbus A320 survived a ditching into New York's Hudson River after both engines lost power from striking a flock of birds.

Experts cite engineering advances to produce strengthened fuselages that hold together better, and better fire-retardant technologies in cabin seats and furnishings. They also say crews are better trained.

Even some emergencies have good outcomes. Last July, an oxygen tank exploded on a Qantas jetliner over the South China Sea, ripping a hole in the floor the size of a small car and causing the plane to fall nearly 20,000 feet. Everyone survived the emergency landing.