Loss of El Faro article

[learhawkerbe400]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.va...the-worst-us-maritime-disaster-in-decades/amp

I found this article really interesting. It’s a really sad story with lots of parallels to aviation.

I find it humorous that even mariners get annoyed by their Alaska counterparts lol

 

[TrustMeI'maPilot]

Great article, makes me think they’re still in the stone ages when it comes to CRM and safety culture.

 

[Max Power]

I found this to be fascinating to read as well. No matter what kind of ship you command, we fight many of the same battles with external pressures, inaccurate data and decision making. Swiss-cheese model, links in a chain, whatever you want to call it, this was a great(and sad) example of it.

 

[PropSettin']

I was going to post this exact same link, as you said the parallels to aviation are incredible. Truly worth a read.

 

[FlyingAccountant]

It's a really sad story and from reading the bridge recorded transcript, they knew they were in trouble for quite a bit before they actually sunk. If you haven't read the transcript it, it's worth a read.

 

[JeppUpdater]

I read that last night and forwarded it to several friends. It’s a great article with a lot of parallels to aviation, regardless of the particular branch you’re in.

This particular paragraph summed it up nicely for me regarding CRM/SRM, ADM, and the things we’ve all seen or dealt with:

It is unlikely that Davidson ever fully understood that he had sailed into the eye wall of Joaquin, but he must have realized by now that he had come much too close. As is usually the case, the catastrophe was unfolding because of a combination of factors that had aligned, which included: Davidson’s caution with the home office; his decision to take a straight-line course; the subtle pressures to stick to the schedule; the systematic failure of the forecasts; the persuasiveness of the B.V.S. graphics; the lack of a functioning anemometer; the failure by some to challenge Davidson’s thinking more vigorously; the initial attribution of the ship’s list entirely to the winds; and finally a certain mental inertia that had overcome all of them. This is the stuff of tragedy that can never be completely explained.

 

[learhawkerbe400]

How is it possible in 2018 to drive an 800’ boat into the eye of a hurricane?

A giant cargo ship not having satellite weather seems like the equivalent of us trying to dodge thunderstorms at night with no radar.

 

[FlyingAccountant]

How is it possible in 2018 to drive an 800’ boat into the eye of a hurricane?

A giant cargo ship not having satellite weather seems like the equivalent of us trying to dodge thunderstorms at night with no radar.

Pressure to maintain schedule, bravado, and sheer recklessness.

 

[learhawkerbe400]

How is it possible in 2018 to drive an 800’ boat into the eye of a hurricane?

A giant cargo ship not having satellite weather seems like the equivalent of us trying to dodge thunderstorms at night with no radar.

Pressure to maintain schedule, bravado, and sheer recklessness.

Oh i get that. But how do these guys not have nexrad satellite weather up on the bridge instead of relying on 3rd party forecasts? Crazy.

I can almost real-time satellite weather on my iPad when i fly GA.

 

[ASpilot2be]

Oh i get that. But how do these guys not have nexrad satellite weather up on the bridge instead of relying on 3rd party forecasts? Crazy.

I can almost real-time satellite weather on my iPad when i fly GA.

The NEXRAD is all ground based, and where ships travel are generally out of the radar range. The ships radar can actually pick up rain showers pretty well. But thats about it.

 

[tomokc]

Ignorance and arrogance about weather that ends in disaster is nothing new. The leaders of Donner party were guilty of it. In the first, early winter snows of 1846 in the Sierras, they assumed it would be the same as Illinois, where you get a day or two of snow, then a few days of warm weather and melting. Boy, did they get that wrong!

 

[bucksmith]

Mental inertia. Think about that term from the article in relation to an accident chain. It articulates in two words what folks have written books about!

 

[Very Debonair]

How is it possible in 2018 to drive an 800’ boat into the eye of a hurricane?

A giant cargo ship not having satellite weather seems like the equivalent of us trying to dodge thunderstorms at night with no radar.

The investigation just concluded, but the actual incident was in October 2015 during hurricane Joaquin. Not sure if marine weather reporting and frequency has improved since then, but one can hope.

Echoing others, it was indeed a great, if tragic, read.