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On July 25, 2000, a fatal accident brought down one of aviation history’s marvels, the Concorde. All 100 passengers, nine crew members on board and four people on the ground were killed.
Concorde was an extraordinary supersonic aircraft that could travel at over 2,100 km/h - more than twice the speed of sound. At one point, it did the fastest transatlantic flight from New York to London in two hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds. That was epic, given that regular airlines did the same journey for over eight hours. Even with such blinding speed, the Concorde was not only considered the fastest, but also the safest way to travel by air.
However, in the year 2000, disaster struck. Five minutes before the Concorde, another aircraft departing for Newark, New Jersey, had lost a titanium alloy strip about one foot long on the same runway. During the Concorde’s takeoff run, this piece of debris, still lying on the runway, was run over, cutting a tyre and rupturing it.
A large chunk of tyre debris (4.5 kilos) struck the underside, sending out a pressure shockwave that ruptured the number five fuel tank, just above the undercarriage. Leaking fuel gushing out from the bottom of the wing was most likely ignited through contact with hot parts of the engine.
Although the control tower saw the large plume of flame, and notified the pilot, with only two kilometres of runway remaining and travelling at a speed of 328 km/h, his only option was to take off. The Concorde would have needed at least three kilometres of runway to abort safely. The crew attempted to level the aircraft, but with falling airspeed, they lost control and the aircraft stalled, crashing into a hotel near the airport.
The crash of one Concorde contributed to the end of the entire company. A few days after the crash, all Concordes were grounded, pending an investigation into the cause of the crash. In March 2008, after massive losses and an irretrievable goodwill, manslaughter charges were finally brought against a very unlikely culprit, but rightfully so: the mechanic who replaced the wear strip that had been dropped on the runway before Concorde’s takeoff.
This wear strip had been replaced only slightly over a month and the investigation revealed that the rough edged strip had been neither manufactured nor installed in accordance with the procedures as defined by the manufacturer.
One mistake by a mediocre mechanic from another company brought down the multi-million dollar Concorde marvel. The lack of excellence in the mind of one man gave birth to a monumental catastrophe. This one lesson on the ravages of mediocrity constantly nudges my heart.
While excellence is the ‘art’ of performance beyond par, above expectation and superseding set standards, mediocrity is the joke sluggards bring to the table of maturity. It is the notion which suggests that somebody else will come later and correct the half-baked job, and that for now, you don’t have to go all out, walk the extra mile or apply more effort than is being paid for.
Lazy people do their jobs in a hurry to save time for rest, and are constantly preoccupied with placing vacation before vocation. Nelson Boswell said: “The difference between greatness and mediocrity is often how an individual views a mistake.”
While excellence is paying attention to minute details, mediocrity is established on assumptions, shortcuts, corruption, instant gratification and impatience. Mediocrity is a work ethos that is satisfied with 100 lean and substandard products, instead of 10 world-class products. If there is not a single thing that you stand out as being excellent in, there probably may not be anything you shall be known for in this life.
Unless we conquer mediocrity in our minds, there are some life’s neighbourhoods; poverty and backwardness included, that will be here to stay. Life is so much more than the little basic needs and futile wants everyone seems to be toiling for. Excellence is pre-meditated and its results forecast to be both fulfilling and rewarding. William Arthur Ward, an author and pastor said it in better: “The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.”
To the resolutely excellent soul, there should be nothing appealing about commonplace results and average performances. Do not settle for mere wishes, dreams and empty rhetoric. Well done is always better than well said! Cheap is both dangerous and very expensive. If only the mechanic was a little more observant, patient and excellent, probably I would be writing this in a Concord on my three-hour flight from London to New York, instead of the eight that I must now make each time. What a loss!
