This morning a plane crashed into a shopping centre built near the end of an airport runway at Essendon Fields, Melbourne, Australia.
This crash area was relatively recently simply a flat area of grass near the end of the runway.
A good outcome crashing into grass is not assured, but it’s usually better than a building.
Now
Before the shopping centre
Images:
https://www.facebook.com/9newsmelbourne
Images from http://1945.melbourne/
safedesign 
The worst incident at this airport in over 30 years, was blurted out early in the reports, as if to suggest we didn’t expect it or it’s a surprise. Just like living beneath a volcano that hasn’t erupted for a 1000 years, or building a nuclear power plant where tsunami,s haven’t occurred for a time. Elimination is on the top of the hierarchy of controls, but most think it means we eliminate, elimination as a control!
This incident could have killed so many others.
Thanks Rod. It was a poor planning decision at the outset. Was there a need to put shops at the end of a runway? No. What we will see here – ironically – is that the planes get forced out of the airport in favor developing the entire site, more money for all involved, including the Commonwealth government, because of a crash into building that never should have been put there.
Most of the airports in Australia follow the same theme. Adelaide has a shopping centre at the border of their airport, Brisbane has a DFO and other falcilites close to theirs as well. Sydney at least has a runway heading into the ocean at on end. Bankstown airport will be a high risk as well as it deals with light aircraft mainly, in a residential setting, and we all know light aircraft are high risk.
Remember the Concorde ploughing into an apartment building causing multiable deaths. Plus a multitude of other aircraft disasters that have occurred around the world. There was the famous “pilot error” ruling incident in England when an aircraft crash landed on a motorway, the ditching incident into the Hudson River etc. etc.
This is not a freak accident, we need to understand that and stop disregarding evidence that this is going to keep occurring. The history is there for us to refer to, as well as obvious hazard management knowledge and advice as you have highlighted, but we all will be shocked that this could ever happen.
Your pictures are just us again how we disregard safety as a priority and trade it off for commercial interests. Well done in getting that together so quickly.
Another light plane incident in the US this time…..on approach it crashes into a house……so not a suprise……as nothing can be done to change the unwanted outcome.