Re: When will we learn? It's all about the money again.
@ Dodgy Geezer
What a funny and so British thing to claim.
The Comet was interesting like the Titanic or the first British airship that crashed on its maiden flight.
Disasters are always interesting and there are often important things to learn from them.
As you mention pressurization I assume you believe the Comet was first there too, but all the normal suspects like the French, the Germans, the Americans and the Russians had that before the Comet. Also the British Avro Tudor before the Comet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_pressurization#History
The Comet set no standards, all that could have been learned from that disaster was the importance of good craftsmanship and quality control.
There are quite a few stories, of variable quality, regarding the cause of the "problem". The square windows are mentioned, and did not help, but a well made plane could have square windows. A more plausible explanation was that the rivets were forced through the skin and not predrilled causing small cracks in the aluminum skin.
Think of thin folio, it's very hard to break by pulling it, but give it even the smallest crack and it will snap easily.
Claiming metal fatique is very far fetched as those plans were doomed the day they were built, nor was metal fatique anything new in any field.
The British, very self centred, view is of course that had it not been a disaster Britain would have become a leader in that field. I doubt it a lot, Boeing was well on the road. They used the huge experience from their bombers and they got it right with the engines under the wings, there was no way the British could have prevented them or won. Looking back at the flying boats, they won that competition too.
So, Dodgy Geezer question your information, people who don't do it might end up being run by caricatures like Bojo, Mogg, Davis and a Vicars daughter.
The one impressive thing about the Comet was how much effort was put into finding the reason, only those tests should have been done before and not after.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
