Cautionary Conversation: Flying on Empty
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2022
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A meter is longer than a yard. An ounce is heavier than a gram. We harmlessly mix them up sometimes, but a "unit conversion error" when you're filling up the fuel tanks of an airliner can be fatal. Which is exactly what happened to Air Canada Flight 143.
Tim Harford talks to mathematician and comedian Matt Parker about how the aircraft came to take off without the proper fuel load, how no one noticed until it was too late, and why such errors give us an insight into just how important maths is to keeping our complex world working as it should.
For more "unit conversion errors" check out Matt's book Humble Pi.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Pushkin |
| 0:13.5 | On the 20th of July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 was being prepared for its 2,000-mile |
| 0:21.5 | cross-country flight from Montreal to Edmonton. |
| 0:25.9 | The ground crew loaded her up with a necessary fuel, 22,600 kg, according to their calculations. |
| 0:33.9 | Those calculations were correct, up to a point. |
| 0:37.9 | But unfortunately, they mixed up kilograms and pounds. |
| 0:42.1 | And not in a good way. |
| 0:43.9 | Nobody had any idea of this. |
| 0:46.5 | But the plane took off for a four-hour flight, with only half the fuel it needed to get |
| 0:52.5 | to Edmonton. |
| 0:53.5 | The plane was now on course to run out of fuel somewhere over Winnipeg. |
| 0:59.5 | I'm Tim Halford, and you're listening to cautionary tales. |
| 1:26.5 | But this is a new experiment for us here at cautionary tales. |
| 1:29.8 | As usual, you'll hear a story of disaster, but I'll be joined by an expert to help tell |
| 1:34.8 | the story and reflect on the lessons. |
| 1:37.0 | I hope you like it, and I'm confident you will because my guest today is Matt Parker. |
| 1:42.8 | Matt Parker is a phenomenon, a stand-up comedian, mathematician, YouTuber, podcaster, and author |
| 1:48.5 | of the number one bestseller, Humble Pie. |
| 1:51.7 | Humble Pie is a funny, nerdy book about the real-life consequences of mathematical mistakes. |
| 1:57.1 | And it's where I first heard the story of Air Canada Flight 143. |
| 2:02.7 | Matt Parker, welcome to cautionary tales. |
| 2:04.9 | Thank you, Tim. |
... |
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