Overview
While it is relatively easy and certainly safer to use hindsight to determine what course of action should or should not have been taken with an accident, the value in studying the mistakes of the past are almost infinite.
Despite the tragedies that have occurred in aviation, the resulting change in operations and safety protocols has continued to make flying safer. On March 27, 1977 two Boeing 747s collided on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife. As a result of the collision, both aircraft were destroyed and 583 people died. In addition to communication issues prior to the accident, the weather was deteriorating and tensions were high due to the large number of aircraft having been diverted to Tenerife because of a bomb threat at the original destination airport.
There are many factors to consider and lessons to be learned from this incident, but for this assignment, analyze communication strategies learned so far that would aid in avoiding such a tragedy.
Guidelines
Formatting Elements
Your paper should follow the formatting elements listed below:
APA Format (cover page, abstract, main body, and reference page)
APA In-text Citations (within the main body of research)
APA References
Times New Roman
12 Point Font
3 Pages of Content (The cover page, abstract page, and reference page do NOT count as part of the required length.)
3rd Person Pronoun
Three references (1 reference to the Tenerife Airport Disaster and 2 additional references that support your analysis.)
Content Elements
For this assignment, you need to write a research paper that analyzes the Tenerife airport disaster. Your paper should have an introduction, supporting paragraphs, and clear conclusion. Since this is a research paper, you should state the subject and purpose for the research paper within the introduction, and you should have a clear thesis statement by the end of your introduction paragraph(s).
Your research paper should identify the main communication issues identified by researchers regarding the Tenerife disaster. After identifying the communication issues, you then need to identify and outline the communication strategies you would suggest for future employers, employees, and/ or co-workers within the field of aviation.
You can choose any source for learning about the Tenerife airport disaster (article, video, etc.), but you need two academic sources that support your research on communication strategies within the field of aviation.
Remember that this is an analysis research paper, so simply restating what happened in the Tenerife airport disaster is not enough. (Anyone can read or watch a video to know “what” happened.) You need to analyze the “what”, “how”, and “why” with the focus of communication errors. After providing an analysis of the communication errors, you then need to provide communication strategies for people within the field of aviation.
References
At least three references are required for this assignment.
