Modern Marvels Engineering Disasters 7. The History Channel

I purchased this tape to see the segment on 'Wing Flutter' that brought down a couple of 'Lockheed Electras'. I read a softcover book about those aviation disasters, and found the steps to solve the mystery of the 'probable cause', to be fascinating. The other segments were equally riveting.

These Science series films are awesome. If you're not lucky enough to catch them when they first air, this is the best way to own and watch them.

Video reviews five engineering disasters - what happened, and lessons learned.#1)Lockheed Electra - first one crashed (left wing broke off), then another (right wing) a few months later. Wing flutter caused by engine rotation due to weakened engine mounts resulting from hard landings, built up due to resonance. Remedy was to strengthen the engine mounts. (Also was an issue for bridges - eg. the Tacoma Narrows Bridge failure in a storm.)#2)Baldwin Hills Dam - collapsed December 1963 because lining on the bottom cracked, allowing water into the foundation where it undermined and cracked it, resulting in collapse. The dam was 400' from a major fault line, and atop a minor one. Investigation revealed the liner was less flexible than thought, former oil pumping in the area using pressurized water had destabilized the area, and there was greater fault shifting than predicted. Dams now built in fault areas receive greater scrutiny. Dam was not rebuilt.#3)Sunshine Skyway - a 5.5 mile Florida span at St. Petersburg was hit by a ship in a 1980 no-visibility storm. Its radar had gone out, and could not stop lest be blown into the bridge. One thousand feet fell into the water. Protective barriers were installed at the new bridge location that was at a site that did not also require ships to turn; sections were tied together with cables. (Between 1992-2001, 2,700 accidents occurred from barges hitting bridges.)#4)Northridge Earthquake - A three-story apartment with open-storage parking on the first floor collapsed. Simulation found a problem due to lacking interior walls. Steel reinforcing sections were added to similar remaining buildings, and fastenings between precast sections were strengthened.#5)Underground Coal Mine Fire - Centralia, PA. fire started May, 1962. A number of efforts were made to put out the fire - all failed. Ended up relocating people from the area, and fire continues today over about 400 acres.