Image Credit: planetalking.com
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MAYDAY! A Business Lesson from a Crashing Jumbo–Jet:
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(aka: How "Plan–B" Saved 309 Lives!)
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A modern airliner, let’s say a Boeing 747 or the Airbus A380, can cost hundreds-of-millions of dollars. The 747, according to industry analysts, has over six-million parts. In terms of cost and parts, these majestic birds of the 21st-Century skies are designed and built with the utmost comfort and safety in mind. But things do go wrong…
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Image Credit: aog-services.com
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…it is the "Nightmare-Scenario at 40,000 Feet" for pilots the world over. Complete systems failure. No engines. Electrical power…gone. Hydraulic systems…gone. No flight-controls, rudders; no control of the wings: ailerons, flaps or slats. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, a modern airliner has become nothing more than a 1930’s glider. Gravity is pulling it towards the earth…and there are hundreds of passengers whose lives are in jeopardy!
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Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!
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Image Credit: upload.wikimedia.org
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We are declaring an emergency!
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This exact nightmare-scenario occurred on August 24th, 2001. Due to a series of mechanical failures and human oversight, Air Transat flight 236, an Airbus A330 with 306 passengers and crew aboard, ran out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean. The closest landing strip was Lajes Airport in the Azores, approximately 150 nautical miles away. With no power, nothing but blue water below, and at the mercy of gravity, reaching the airport was an impossibility according to all Laws of Physics. The plane and the passengers were doomed, destined to become just more tragic statistics…
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Enter "Plan-B"
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Image Credit: Hamilton Sundstrand (The world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of Ram Air Turbines)
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It is called a Ram Air Turbine (RAT). It is the only potential solution to the Nightmare-Scenario. When the 900,000 lb. airliner loses all power, the small turbine drops from the belly of the aircraft:
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The RAT is quite simply a small propeller-driven, rotary engine which generates its own power due to the speed of the airflow around the plane to which it is attached. More simply: the approximately 500 m.p.h. wind turns the propeller blades and the system stores the energy. Connected to a hydraulic pump and electrical generator, it creates a small, self-sustaining source of power…enough to supply a massive airliner with the minimal power necessary to maintain basic controls such as lift and steering. The plane is still a powerless glider with no engines, but hope has been restored. (Above Image: t0.gstatic.com)
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A Miracle:
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Image Credit: your-perfect-algarve-holiday.com
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On that August day, the pilots of Air Transat flight 236, Captain Robert Piché and First Officer Dirk DeJager, did the impossible. They achieved what experts the world over said was impossible. Instead of their plane ditching in the open ocean (considered certain death by aviation experts), they recorded the longest powerless glide in aviation history! They flew 150 miles with no power at all. They barely, barely made it. Except for several minor injuries, all aboard lived to tell their harrowing tale; Their Facebook tribute to the pilots is here. Interested in seeing the video of the incredible episode? Click here for "Flying on Empty," the National Geographic Channel re-enactment, courtesy of YouTube!
The incredible skill of the pilots was evident on that day, but the fact remains, without that tiny little propeller, "Plan-B," newspaper headlines would have told of 309 dead!
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You might not be a pilot…
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you might not hold hundreds of lives in the balance…
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but in this dog–eat–dog 21st–Century Business world…
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where your clients are counting on you and a job-well-done…
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and your reputation is at stake…
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you must ask yourself…
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do you and your business have a…
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Image Credit: planbperformance.net
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…in case things don’t go according to plan?
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Do you have the proverbial "propeller" 
to keep things aloft?
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Dear Reader, Thanks for stopping by! If you’ve enjoyed this original Business article, please consider giving it a re-Tweet…I’d be extremely grateful!
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_____________________
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Looking for a writer
yo*****@******************ip.com
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Yonatan Maisel is a business blogger, history buff and author.
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If you’re looking for a "lap-dog," look elsewhere; if you’re looking for a writer who will "kick ass and take names," he might be for you! From corporate bios to ghost-blogging, from speeches to research…and everything in between, UNBRIDLED SATISFACTION is the goal!
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Yoni started a business blog one year ago. 90% of his new clients now find their way to him as a direct result of having read one or more posts. He is a regular contributor here at www.jobshuk.com.
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Additional Image Credit: Propeller: yamaha-motor.com