When technical writing saved the day

Look, I’ll admit it. Technical writing isn’t the sexiest profession going on. Technical writers are never going to see their posters put up on the bedroom walls of children idolizing their careers. It’s very unlikely that technical writers will have epic biopics made about their lives (although they may have a poorly rated romantic comedy made about them instead). It’s very, very unlikely that you’ll find people arguing in their local pub about who their favourite Technical Writer is, and how, if only they managed the national technical writing team, they could easily win the technical writing world cup. Unfortunately, technical writing is never going to be seen as a glamorous profession.

But it is a very necessary one. Technical writing helps people every day of their lives, by helping them make sense of complex machinery, get to grips with new ideas or ways of using equipment, or just helping them avoid crashing their mini bikes. I’ve previously argued that technical writing has changed the course of human history, and other, more informed, colleagues have suggested that technical writing can help repair the planet, or even change the world. In this article, I’m going to do something slightly different and highlight examples of how technical writing has helped avert disasters and save lives.

So, hopefully by the end of this article, I’ll have convinced you of how, sometimes, technical writers help save the day.

Apollo 13

You’ve probably heard of the Apollo 13 mission, or at least watched the 1995 film (or at the very least, seen it featured on our regular #TCFilmFriday posts). In case you haven’t, here is a condensed version: Apollo 13 was meant to be the third moon landing launched by NASA, but unfortunately had to abort the landing due to an exploding oxygen tank in the craft’s service module. With life support and electrical systems damaged in the explosion, the crew had to rely on backup systems in the lunar module, and navigate safely back to Earth.

There were many obstacles to overcome as Apollo 13 returned from the moon with damaged equipment; water needed to be rationed for both the astronauts and for cooling various systems, power for computers and other equipment was limited, and, most pressingly, the carbon dioxide scrubbers in the lunar module, used to keep the air breathable, did not fit the filters available.

However, this is where technical writing helped. The astronauts followed their emergency procedures, powered down non-essential systems, collected and rationed water, and moved essential equipment from the service module to the lunar module. Using the emergency ‘contingency checklist’, they managed to manually adjust their trajectory without the use of the powered-down guidance computer. Most ingeniously, the Astronauts fashioned makeshift carbon dioxide filters, using a procedure improvised by the ground team. This process used materials they had to hand, including the cover of the astronauts’ procedure manual, to create an improvised ‘mailbox’ filter that ensured they had enough oxygen to make it back to earth. So, having a physical copy of the manual did help, but maybe not in the way the author intended.

The whole story of the Apollo 13 mission shows that, in an emergency situation, keeping calm, following well-thought-out emergency procedures, and, in some cases, repurposing your procedure manual cover to make a makeshift carbon dioxide filter, can help overcome the odds and avoid disaster.

CockCrofts ‘Follies’

Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a former Royal Ordinance factory built in 1942 in Cumbria. After the war ended, it was converted and rebuilt as a plutonium processing plant, and later became the site of the world’s first commercial nuclear power reactor in 1950, with a second coming online on the same site in 1951. While this nuclear power reactor was being built, John Cockcroft, then the President of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, insisted on adding large air filtration units to the chimney stacks of the Windscale reactors. This was a somewhat controversial addition, as it came late into the construction of Windscale, was added at great expense, and it was argued would not be needed, as the design of Windscale and its operation would prevent corrosion and contamination, so, in theory, there shouldn’t have been any particulates to filter.

However, Cockcroft was quite stubborn, partly due to a technical report he read on the American X-10 reactor in Oak Ridge, Chicago, which attributed high levels of uranium oxide in the surrounding area to a lack of filtration at this reactor. It turned out later that this could be partially attributed to a chemical plant in the area, but Cockcroft became determined that this not happen at Windscale. Eventually, Cockcroft was successful in having the filtration system added to both chimney stacks, but not without engineers cheekily labelling them ‘Cockcroft’s follies’.

Fast forward to 10^th of October 1957, after several days of anomalous temperature readings, it was reported that a fire broke out in one of the reactors, caused by a burst fuel capsule catching fire. After several failed attempts to put out the fire, first by blowing it out by setting the cooling fans to maximum, then by trying to suffocate it with carbon dioxide, then in a last ditch attempt water was pumped directly into the reactor, it was eventually extinguished on the 11^th of October, when the cooling and ventilation system was cut off, smothering the flames. However, the fire had been burning for at least a day. This could have led to massive amounts of radioactive material being released over Britain and Europe, leading to potential evacuations and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, disruption to the world’s food supply, and, more importantly, possibly thousands of deaths due to complications caused by radiation exposure.

Fortunately, as ‘Cockcroft follies’ had been installed, an estimated 95% of the radioactive material released by the fire was safely contained. While there were reports of deaths linked to the fire in the years after (100 to 240, depending on your source for estimates), the consequences were much, much less severe than they would have been if the filtration system had not been installed. So, had Cockcroft not read the report from the X-10 reactor, it could be argued that the air filters would not have been installed on the Windscale reactors and that the Windscale incident would have been much worse.

The Miracle on the Hudson

The third example on our list, and the second turned into a film starring Tom Hanks, is the bird strike on US Airways Flight 1549, more commonly known as the Miracle on the Hudson. Shortly after take-off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Flight 1549 was hit by a ‘Bird-strike’, where a flock of birds collided with the airplane. This knocked out power on both engines, leaving the airplane losing altitude over the heavily populated New York City. Fortunately, thanks to the experienced pilots, brave rescue efforts, and some luck, the plane was able to safely ditch in the Hudson River, with passengers only suffering minor injuries. It has been cited by the National Transportation and Safety Board as the ‘most successful ditching in aviation history’.

So, how did technical writing help here? Well, obviously, this is mainly down to the quick thinking of the pilots, crew and emergency rescue staff, but technical writing played several supporting roles here. In the immediate aftermath of the bird-strike, the pilots followed emergency engine restart procedures and were quickly able to work out that both engines could not be restarted. This no doubt helped them decide to ditch in the Hudson, rather than attempt to return to La Guardia Airport or try for another airport in New Jersey. Both pilots would also have trained for and read up on emergency procedures, preparing them for this kind of situation. Also, regular air passengers will no doubt be familiar with the instructions and documentation that cover emergencies in airplanes, and this would have helped the passengers and crew quickly exit the plane, and use the emergency flotation devices that many passengers waited on.

Again, while this situation was saved by good decision-making under pressure, good technical writing also helped ensure that the Miracle on the Hudson was the most successful ditching in aviation history.

Ready for technical writing to save you?

I hope this article has demonstrated the good that technical writing can do. While all these situations relied on people making sensible decisions and staying calm in stressful circumstances, technical writing helped by providing a framework to work from, advice on potential problems, or being repurposed in inventive ways. In this way, good technical writing can help people avert disaster and save lives.

And if you have some top picks for your fantasy technical writing team, or just want to discuss how our technical writing services can help you, please get in touch. We’d be more than happy to hear from you.