Do you distrust some engineering? Like bridges, roads, electronics, buildings, vehicles, planes, trains etc etc?

[Multicore]

Yes, I do sometimes distrust these things. Boeing and Airbus air-plains sometimes take control away from pilots and try to crash the plane, sometimes successfully. Modern cars with too much software do this from time to time too. It's terrifying to imagine being in these situations.

 

[Doodski]

Yes, I do sometimes distrust these things. Boeing and Airbus air-plains sometimes take control away from pilots and try to crash the plane, sometimes successfully. Modern cars with too much software do this from time to time too. It's terrifying to imagine being in these situations.

I've been on a motorcycle and a snowmobile with a stuck throttle and those where both pretty scary situations to be in. Steering input at full throttle and no throttle is very different at speed. Add in a computer doing stuff and no clutch and voila... death!

 

[iamsms]

I don't trust my car on some streets of San Francisco. Recently a friend came to visit me, and we went to a place in SF, and on our way back, we decided to roam around a bit and show him the city. On one particular street, while going uphill, my friend and my car both were very close to what they call "losing their shit". Ngl, sometimes even I feel like my car gonna give up and start rolling backwards and crash.

 

[Multicore]

What about the great American sink hole? That's also an engineering fail. These underground monsters swallow people whole in Now York, or swallow whole cars with people in them in Boston, or whole houses in Florida. Imagine it: minding your own business waiting for the bus while a great creature from the underworld silently approaches and without warning opens its enormous mouth and you fall in.

 

[Doodski]

What about the great American sink hole? That's also an engineering fail. These underground monsters swallow people whole in Now York, or swallow whole cars with people in them in Boston, or whole houses in Florida. Imagine it: minding your own business waiting for the bus while a great creature from the underworld silently approaches and without warning opens its enormous mouth and you fall in.

 

[mansr]

Yes, I do sometimes distrust these things. Boeing and Airbus air-plains sometimes take control away from pilots and try to crash the plane, sometimes successfully. Modern cars with too much software do this from time to time too. It's terrifying to imagine being in these situations.

When has an Airbus plane done that? Or Boeing, other than the 737 MAX?

 

[pseudoid]

What about the great American sink hole?

They used to have "Adopt a Pothole" programs in full swing on all NYC 'highways', way back in the 1970s.
EDIT: OIC! You may be talking politics...

 

[Doodski]

They used to have "Adopt a Pothole" programs in full swing on all NYC 'highways', way back in the 1970s.
EDIT: OIC! You may be talking politics...

This text and formatting is very legible as it should be. Perhaps you copy pasted something in the window and carried forward the formatting and settings for the font?

 

[BlackTalon]

Maybe the easiest solution is to no longer have engineers designing roads, bridges, building structures, airframes, electronic and mechanical systems, etc.? I'm sure the contractors will do just fine developing their own designs/ criteria without needing to resort t using engineers. /s

One book the OP may find interesting is "Why Buildings Fall Down" by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori. Crap -- hard to believe it is 30 years old now. I think there were some follow-on books, including why airplanes crash.

Ultimately many of the spectacular failures we read about may be due to engineering mistakes, but more often things like changes made by the contractor, improper installation, faulty materials, etc. are to blame. And also material degradation and/ or damage incurred over time. Over the last 40 years there have been big advances in the understanding of earthquake risk, wind loads, etc., as well as computer modeling abilities, that have resulted in numerous design requirements that did not previously exist (at least in the US).

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

I don't trust my car on some streets of San Francisco. Recently a friend came to visit me, and we went to a place in SF, and on our way back, we decided to roam around a bit and show him the city. On one particular street, while going uphill, my friend and my car both were very close to what they call "losing their shit". Ngl, sometimes even I feel like my car gonna give up and start rolling backwards and crash.

I give you the worst car ever built the Austin Allegro. The chassis was so weak it was banned from tunnels, couldn’t be towed. A friends brother was a mechanic and was told by his boss to change a tyre on one, started jacking it up and the windscreen fell out.

 

[Doodski]

I give you the worst car ever built the Austin Allegro. The chassis was so weak it was banned from tunnels, couldn’t be towed. A friends brother was a mechanic and was told by his boss to change a tyre on one, started jacking it up and the windscreen fell out.

I've owned and operated a Ford Cortina 1600, Cortina GT2000, Austin Mini and a MG Midget and I loved them all...lol. They all had flex in the frames if one pushes the car hard it can be noticed but overall they where fun and economical too. The Cortina GT2000 cost me $20 and I drove 250km 5 days a week for 10 months while I studied in college and the MG Midget was a daily driver for years and it was a perfect companion in rainy West Coast, Canada. The Austin Mini was a my rally car fantasy. I drove that thing hard on both dirt and street and broke a engine mount when speed shifting it. So for me English Cars have been fun and good but I chose my models.

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

I've owned and operated a Ford Cortina 1600, Cortina GT2000, Austin Mini and a MG Midget and I loved them all...lol. They all had flex in the frames if one pushes the car hard it can be noticed but overall they where fun and economical too. The Cortina GT2000 cost me $20 and I drove 250km 5 days a week for 10 months while I studied in college and the MG Midget was a daily driver for years and it was a perfect companion in rainy West Coast, Canada. The Austin Mini was a my rally car fantasy. I drove that thing hard on both dirt and street and broke a engine mount when speed shifting it. So for me English Cars have been fun and good but I chose my models.

Had a Cortina GT and several minis, all great fun never daft enough to buy an Allegro.

 

[Doodski]

Had a Cortina GT and several minis, all great fun never daft enough to buy an Allegro.

My Cortina GT was a fun ride for winter driving for that 10 months of 250km/day. 4 studded winter tires all around and the coolant and electrical system had a going over before winter. Mountain valley driving in BC stuff so there's lots of snow, slush and maniacs. I got to learn to drive that car pretty fast at 250km per day +.

 

[RayDunzl]

When has an Airbus plane done that?

 

[mansr]

I was asking about the suggestion that "Boeing and Airbus air-plains sometimes take control away from pilots and try to crash the plane, sometimes successfully." Nothing about the crash you mention fits that description.

 

[Mart68]

I give you the worst car ever built the Austin Allegro. The chassis was so weak it was banned from tunnels, couldn’t be towed. A friends brother was a mechanic and was told by his boss to change a tyre on one, started jacking it up and the windscreen fell out.

It was really only the first year's production that had major issues but the car never lost that reputation even though later ones were a good second hand buy. Assuming you were happy to drive a seriously uncool car. A girlfriend had a 1976 one and it was constant trouble. Although she was into horses and motorbikes too so she didn't think it was unusual to have to give a car constant attention to keep it running.

Hower my mother ran a later HLE model for several years with zero issues,. It flew through MOTs. Got written off when a doctor smashed into after failing to look when pulling out.

They did have quite a lot of room inside and were pretty comfortable.

 

[Pearljam5000]

I just distrust anything and anyone
And follow Nietzsche's nihilism

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

Anyone got videos of the planes that have not crashed?

 

[Chrispy]

Yeah in general not the engineering that's a problem rather than execution and long term maintenance depending on design chosen.....hey, that sounds like audio gear!

 

[Dustyc]

I have more concern about neglect than outright bogus engineering.
I do get a thrill parking on any number of long span highway bridges. The rocking and rolling when a semi truck rolls on by gives me the giggles. Biggest disappointment? Walking across the Golden Gate bridge. Even in the middle of the span I couldn't detect any movement. I guess the period was too low for me to sense.