"Crash" redefined (again)

For pilots, the word “crash” generally means an high-speed, uncontrolled descent into the ground or similar collision with terrain (such as hitting a mountain in level flight), followed by total destruction of the aircraft and everyone in it. For the media, “crash” seems to mean any flight with a non-standard landing (such as a forced landing in a field, or a gear-up landing).

Now the bar’s just a bit lower: in this story, Reuters uses uses the term “crash” to describe a collapsed landing gear in a Dash-8, presumably during the landing roll after the plane had already touched down safely (the story isn’t big on details). They didn’t even bother calling it a “crash landing”; just a “crash”.


About David Megginson


1 Response to "Crash" redefined (again)

  1. Dictionary.com defines crash thusly, “Aeronautics. to land in an abnormal manner, usually causing severe damage: The airliner crashed.” While evidently being used correctly, the term crash does tend to sensationalize aviation incidents.

    Frankly, I’m just getting tired of the news altogether. Even local news anchors lead in each story by editorializing the event. I wish they would just report the facts and let me come to my own conclusions about how I should feel about it.

Comments are closed.