Hypothetical script line: “The de Havilland Comet crashed because engineers used square windows.”
| Claim | Status | Evidence | Missing context |
|---|---|---|---|
| The de Havilland Comet crashed because engineers used square windows. | Needs qualification | The FAA’s accident history identifies high stress concentrations around the Comet’s squarish windows and frames, followed by fatigue under repeated pressurization. | The failure involved crack initiation and growth under repeated loading. Earlier testing also used a specimen strengthened by prior high-load pressure tests, masking the production aircraft’s vulnerability. The FAA does not attribute every Comet accident to the same cause. |
Safer script wording
“The Comet’s squarish window corners concentrated stress, helping fatigue cracks grow as the cabin was repeatedly pressurized—but the disaster also exposed a testing method that had hidden the weakness.”
Publication note
The one-line version names a visible design feature but omits the physical mechanism and the test history. Restoring those elements makes the explanation more accurate and more narratively useful.
Usable citation
Federal Aviation Administration, “De Havilland DH-106 Comet 1”
Reviewed by LossyInfo on 20 August 2026. See the complete public evidence card for accident boundaries and testing detail.