An larger-size airplane just flew pretty close to my house… which made me pay attention, because large planes never fly close to my house. The engine noise sounded different than I’m use to, which made me quickly think – “Is that plane crashing?” “Should I get a fix on it and take action to keep from getting killed if it crashes into my house?”
I’m not overly paranoid, but the thought suddenly occurred to me… why don’t planes have an external, audible warning alarm when they are going down? (Or DO they?) It seems like it would be nice to know if a plane is going to be crash landing in my neighborhood, or on the road I’m driving, etc. An ear-piercing, loud, obnoxious alarm that is broadcast from the front and sides of an aircraft could potentially save lives of people on the ground.
I give full credit to the thousands of pilots who have crash landed in populated areas for doing their best to avoid people – but the stories are out there. I don’t know the flight industry at all, and I don’t know the number of people on the ground who die as a result of plane crashes, but I would expect that an audible alarm wouldn’t cost much to the overall development and building of an aircraft. Maybe the flight engineers are already working on something…