Below is the Wikipedia entry which explains the background of the Air France Concorde Flight 4590 that crashed soon after take off in Paris in 2000, killing 113 people:-
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/
It is highly illustrative of how a series of actions, failures and misplaced priorities can come together to cause a major catastrophe, and why every person within a life or business unit has a key role to play at whatever point (and with whatever perceived importance) they touch the project.
The series of events that purportedly contributed to the crash were as follows:
1. Baggage weight was not checked correctly and, as a result, the baggage load was too heavy, so the plane was over it's maximum take off weight;
2. The previous flight from the runway had been late running and there was a time pressure to ensure that Concorde took off within it's own slot parameter to avoid fees being incurred, thus checks were rushed;
3. As a result, time was not taken to burn take off fuel away, so the plane was well over maximum structural weight and too fuel heavy as it commenced it's take off;
4. Titanium alloy debris which had fallen from last plane to take off on the unchecked runway had not been cleared, and was hit by the Concorde tyre, which was severely punctured as a result;
5. The titanium debris, when hit by the Concorde tyre, was thrown at a speed of 310mph, against the underside of a wing of the Concorde;
6. This impact sent out a pressure shockwave that ruptured the number 5 fuel tank at the weakest point, just above the undercarriage, causing immediate flames within the already over fuelled tank;
7. A 30-centimetre (12 in) spacer normally kept the left main landing gear in alignment, but it had not been replaced after recent maintenance, so an abortive take off at speed was out of the question, particularly with a punctured tyre and excess weight now evident;
8. The pilot therefore had no option but to take off with the Concorde's fuel tank already in flames, thus "passing the point of no return".
Flight 4590's engines were ignited/failed almost immediately on take off, and the Concorde started to disintegrate within less than 2 minutes of leaving the tarmac at Charles De Gaulle Airport.
If ONLY ONE of the above conditions had been removed, it is conceivable 113 people would still be alive and their family units not ruined, and Concorde would still be chartering flights to this day.
The main life lessons for us here are as follows:
1. Single errors or misjudgements alone rarely cause a catastrophe, but multiple unchecked errors and lack of attention to detail at every level/action/check point can push events beyond the point of no return, at which point catastrophe becomes an unavoidable.
This is why, sadly, a senior flight investigator has described the tragedy as "an accident which was entirely unnecessary and could have been easily avoided".
3. Life requires balanced, active, responsible and timely decision at all levels.
3. People do not have to be perfect, but they do have to perform their roles to a specified minimum expected standard which imports they understand the importance of what they do to the success, as well as indeed the very survival, of the whole.
This is a startling example of the points being made.
Their relevance to stressbusting™ is this.
According to research, the more stressed or even depressed an individual is, the more likely they are to make mistakes.
Experts have called the symptoms in question many things but we think the best description is that people can develop 'brain fog'.
Others, while recovering from coronavirus (COVID-19), can also experience brain fog and it is not just people who were hospitalised with coronavirus who can develop brain fog.
These individuals may feel any minor mistakes caused by their own stress will not impact on the whole as somebody down the line will make things right.
But Flight 4590 shows, to utterly devastating effect, that this is not always the case.
Our hearts go out to the families who lost loved ones on Flight 4590 - we hope life lessons have been and continue to be learned off the back of the tragedy that extend even beyond the airline industry.
Love tinged with great sadness,
MikeyM&LouLoU xxxxxxxx