fascinatinghorror
patreon
The Thredbo Landslide
🕑 Added 2022-08-09 10:15:01 +0000 UTCWhen researching a story about a historic disaster, I often find it interesting to take a look at what remains on the site today, if anything. In this case that's a very easy task, thanks to the wealth of information on the resort's website.
You can take a look at live webcams to see the state of the snow and how busy the slopes are, or read about the history of the village and resort (with, understandably, no mention of the landslide). You can even take a look at dining options and handcrafted souvenirs.
As well as showing how the place has recovered and developed over the years, the site also gives a sense of just how much is going on at Thredbo... and how well-loved a place it is for so many people. Hopefully, with the lessons learned from the Thredbo Landslide, it can remain so for many years to come!
Comments
Fascinating Horror
That's a really interesting one. There are so many curious aspects to the disaster. I'd always assumed that less fuel was safer, but it makes sense when you think about it that a small amount would be more prone to explosion. And the conspiracy theories too - it's odd how some disasters attract a wealth of conspiracy theories, and some simply don't. I'll do some more reading on this one and see what I find!
Fascinating Horror
An absolutely amazing story - this one's on the list, and I'm aiming to cover it soon. Incredible what she went through and survived (and at such a young age, too!)
NagaNos
Who's heard of TWA Flight 800 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800 )? This was a flight where the plane exploded mid-flight due to a fuel tank explosion caused by a short circuit. This happened in the center wing fuel tank of the Boeing 747. This fuel tank is normally reserved for very long distance flights (such as, say, flying from NYC to airports in East Asia), and little fuel was present in the tank (as it was to fly from NYC to Rome with a stopover in Paris). A small amount of fuel in a tank is actually more dangerous than a large amount, as it takes less heat to evaporate the remaining fuel. This causes the ullage fuel-to-air ratio to increase and exceed the lower flammability limit. A large quantity of fuel in the fuel tank requires much more heat to cause evaporation. Faulty wiring was present in the aircraft, as it would lead to the short-circuiting and thus the explosion. Following the crash, the FAA recommended that all future aircraft be equipped with an inerting system to prevent future incidents of this type ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inerting_system#Aircraft ). An investigation was launched that would last 4 years, and it became the most extensive, complex and costly air disaster investigation in the US at the time. (https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/17/politics/twa-flight-800-wreckage-destroyed-memorial/index.html) On the other hand, though, conspiracy theories emerged about the incident, such as that it was shot down by the US military or a bomb detonated in the cargo hold. These theories have since been debunked. Also, a film came out in 2013 which claims that a missile strike downed the aircraft. 25 years after the incident, the reconstructed remains were dismantled. It's a long story that spans more than 20 years.
Michael Rutherford
I'd lie to see a video on the story of Juliane Koepcke and the LANSA Flight 508 crash, which Julianne survived at 17 years old before wandering through the wilderness for 11 days before being rescued.
