Why do the media always assume the engines have failed on any aircraft accident?

Question

maybe it's just me but when an aircraft crashes and the accident's cause isn't obvious the media nearly always blame engine failure yet they are very reliable, another poor example is the concorde yet it was FOD from the aircraft in front that caused it.

Answer 1

The media has nothing to do with the findings.

Answer 2

I think that the media doesn't just make the call for engine failure without some basis in fact from the early investigation.  In the recent case the pilots early on said the engines did not respond.  

.

The Concorde accident showed that the aircraft had a fatal flaw that took 25 years to rear it's ugly head.  Airliners blow tires all the time but you never hear of it dooming the aircraft to crashing.  The particular arrangement of the engines made them prone to damage from a tire blowout fragment ingestion. The Concorde suffered some 70 tire blowouts over the years with on one occasion a hole was blown through the wing.  The aircraft landed with the damage that particular time.  The tires should have been upgraded years ago.  The Concorde was a beautiful and technological superior aircraft albeit uneconomical.

.

Answer 3

Newspapers especially need to sell lots of copies so they come to conclusions until actual proof proves them wrong or right.

Answer 4

Taxed - F.O.D. is Foreign Object Damage. Usually an item which should not be where it is on an aircraft. For example in an engine. Modern jet engines can digest some forms of FOD but there are other forms that will seriously damage the engine blades or the engine itself rendering it useless. Aircraft with systems that use mechanical means o operate the controls can also be severely damaged by FOD ( say a bolt) in the controls as it jams them not allowing the pilot to control the aircraft.

Engine failure is normally the first thing the press think of because that is their sensationalism angle. It reads better for the press if an aircraft falls out of the sky because of engine failure rather than saying it was pilot error or something else.

Answer 5

The problem with blaming a plane crash on engine failure is this...if an airplane has two engines..it can fly and safely land at the nearest available airport with the remaining engine. this feature is "built" into the plane. Airplanes can also glide for a short amount of time, depending on the altitude of the plane, before it either lands or crashes. If you read enough and do your research, you would know that the majority of plane crashes are another mechanical malfucntion or pilot error. Very seldom does an engine failure cause a plane to crash. The only time an engine failure is highly critical is during takeoff...and if the engine fails too late in the take off procedure, then more than likely the plane will ultimately crash shortly after taking to the air.

Answer 6

The news media is 10% information and 90% entertainment.  Sensationalism and playing on fears of the public is common, and reporting aviation is no different.

An engine failure sounds pretty dramatic, although in reality, it's usually a non-event.  I have heard many news reports where stall=engine failed.  That's just a matter of not taking the time to understand the terminology and the industry before sending a story to press.

Answer 7

Have you ever noticed that the media would rather have a story, then wait for the facts............they will make it up as they go just so they have something to report!

Answer 8

Did you ever give any thought to the idea that the media has no interest in giving you accurate information? That their real purpose is to get you to tune in. You see, you think of the media as a news source so the media needs to give you news. Right or wrong, if you are tuned to let's say CNN because they seem to have the info, the engines failed, you are improving their viewer ratings. That means the next time Colgate wants to peddle their new toothpaste they think, "Hey, these CNN clowns get lots of people to watch their bull c**p and we want lots of people to buy our bull c**p so if we give CNN a bunch of cash instead of giving it to FOX because they didn't want to say something that might not be true so since they had nothing to say nobody watched our commercials over there then maybe we'll sell more toothpaste."

C'mon folks, you can use a computer so you have to be old enough to know why the media does anything at all.

Answer 9

I like to think that it's the engines that make the plane go. If it stops mid-flight it's the engines fault until proven innocent!

Answer 10

FOD is foreign debris--like a bird or c**p on the runway.

We know its not the engines fault.

Sometimes the cabin disappears--like that hawiian plane.

Or the engine falls off--like in chicago

or the flaps dont work--kind like losing steering on a car

But sometimes the engine does fail- like that new air bus about a month ago or less (two engine plane and one failed at take off?)

Answer 11

The people that you see on the news have to report something as quickly as possible and my best bet would be to say that they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. I know that in general the most crashes would happen on clear days because most pilots are more comfortable during this time and they aren't always the most experienced either. Engine problems occur with a very slim chance. If you forgot to check your fuel selector valve before takeoff and during your flight it could be set wrong and so your plane could run out of fuel in a certain area and it could temporarily mess up your engine till you fixed it. Also if you have a really old engine in an old plane it could just be its time. Normally crashes are human error, and human error is only caused by pilots who aren't experienced enough.

The media who in general aren't the ones who are familiar with flying have no idea about most of this and basically show it when they are so quick to blame it on engine failure. Sometimes however they are just plain informed wrong. To cover up bad pilots the tower could be the ones to announce engine failure until evidence is produced that can prove otherwise. Basically they just want to get an answer and be done with the report so they can go report about something else.

Answer 12

My guess would be it is the easiet conclusion to jump to, and they just want to report something on a crash.

Answer 13

Cus most people in the media don't know jack about planes, the only thing they probably think is that the engine is what keeps it in the air, so once a plane crashes, they all assume, the engines failed, so it stopped flying and crashed.

Answer 14

What is FOD?

Answer 15

they dont assume that is what thay are told to say by the press oficer thing on scene as thy dont want people freeking out at wot could have bean terorists ect ect ect

Answer 16

Engine failure is a blanket term isn't it?  They fail,for whatever reason and the plane will come down.  It doesn't matter whether the engine broke (Andtherefore failed) or if a bird got sucked into it and caused the failure