With the recent crash of Air France 447 in the mid-Atlantic and the subsequent recovery of some bodies, I was doing some research on how the
investigators are going about reconstructing the events of the actual crash.
I came across an interesting document released by NATO and relating primarily to military accidents but there is some reference to civil aviation
accidents as well:
The pattern of injuries sustained by the victims of aircraft accidents may give valuable clues that may aid the reconstruction of the sequence and
circumstances of the accident. The “typical” passenger carrying aircraft crash is likely to result in either a uniformity of injuries or a steady
logical gradation of injuries. Study of the injury patterns may allow the investigators to compare different accidents. This is particularly important
when the circumstances of an accident are unknown such as when an aircraft crashes into the sea when there is no wreckage trail from which the impact
attitude may be deduced and when little or no aircraft wreckage may be available for engineering investigation.
An Injury Severity Score is used to determine certain aspects such as G-Force impact etc and is especially useful for accidents that occur over the
sea:
An analysis of the injuries using the Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) was used. The AIS was then used to derive the Injury Severity Score (ISS).
The square root of the ISS was then used in the analyses to allow direct comparisons with other linear measurements of a similar scale (White et al
1993). The severity of the injuries mirrored the damage to the aircraft. While this is entirely to be expected these data may be used in the analysis
of accidents where it is not possible to examine the crashed aeroplane, such as accidents over the sea.
Link to NATO Document
As grisly as this may seem, and with due consideration to next-of-kin, I am curious as the state of the bodies which indicates the stress (G-Force)
encountered during the crash as indicated in the chart below:
Pulmonary contusion 25 G
Nose fracture 30 G
Vertebral body compression 20-30 G
Fracture dislocation of C1-C2 20-40 G
Mandible fracture 40 G
Maxilla fracture 50 G
Aorta intimal tear 50 G
Aorta transection 80-100 G
Pelvic fracture 100-200 G
Vertebral body transection 200-300 G
Total body fragmentation 350 G
Concussion over 0.02 sec. 60 G
Concussion over 0.005 sec. 100 G
Concussion over 0.002 sec. 180 G
Total Body Fragmentation is common when an aircraft slams into the ground or is destroyed in an large explosion. The fact that bodies were encountered
immediately rules out the LARGE explosion theory.
There is not yet enough information available to pursue other causes such as explosive decompression etc.
This link is to a Training Manual for Searchers conducting typical search operations and gives an idea of things such as probability of finding
aircraft etc:
Scanner Familiarization and Prepatory Training
Most aircraft sink very rapidly, even after a controlled ditching. Where an aircraft has gone down into water; oil slicks, foam, and small bits of
floating debris are apparent for a few hours after the impact. With time, the foam dissipates, the oil slicks spread and streak, and the debris become
widely separated due to action of wind and currents. Sometimes emergency life rafts are ejected but, unless manned by survivors, will drift very
rapidly with the wind
