by Mozz » Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:31 pm
I think I remember watching one, about a 747 that had taken off (forgotten where from) and, because of design flaws in the forward outward opening cargo bay door, the motors for the door clips came on. The locks which held the C clips for the doors in place, in case they tried to open, bent and the C clips themselves also gave way, opening the door and causing such a drastic de-pressurisation that it blew a hole in the side of the aircraft and 16 people (please correct me if I'm wrong) perished :'(. The pilots, who deserve a great deal of praise, managed to land the crippled aircraft.
2 parents who lost a son on the plane, bravely took a stand and fought to get to the root of the problem for more than a year and to get boeing to admit design flaw and redesign the cargo doors.
In the end, I remember them showing how they made mock-ups of the door catches and tested them and the door motors and found the problem, and fixed it. Also shows why inward opening doors can be much safer, even if they limit space.