Aviation safety revolves around the tasks of identifying, investigation and evaluating the causes of aircrafts safety failures and carrying out research on how aviation mishaps resulting from negligence or inadequate safety programs can be prevented and mitigated. The increasing number of aircrafts accidents over the last few years has highlighted the importance of ensuring aviation safety for the passengers. The September 11, 2001 incident of plane collision with the twin towers in United States of America jolted the world into questioning the safety in travelling through aircrafts. The revenues of the airline companies nosedived in the wake of the newfound skepticism in prospective passengers. Failure in aviation safety earns itself a lot of media coverage, thus impacting greatly upon the demand of people to travel by airlines. Many other accidents have done little in reassuring the general public towards the adequacy of aviation safety.
Causes of Accidents
The causes of such accidents can be many and varied, ranging from poor weather conditions, to pilot error and from clashes of the plane with birds to natural phenomena, such as lightning, ice or snow. Pilot error is commonly called human error and account for more than 50 of the airline accidents. Other reasons include engineering defaults, mechanical failure, terrorism, sabotage and other causes (Chandler, 1996).
Even though the most significant cause of airline accidents is due to pilot error the aircraft design plays a great part in determining the safety of an aircraft. If the design lacks in an important safety component, the odds of the pilot error occurring and the resulting damages may be greater. In order to mitigate the risks of being involved in aircraft accidents and to revive the confidence of the general public in air travel, many developments are being made in the area of aviation safety (Chandler, 1996) (Harris Muir, 2005).
Safety Programs
An effective aviation safety program should revolve around the following three areas
Accident Prevention
Accident Mitigation
System Monitoring
(Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.)
Accident prevention involves tackling the issue of aviation safety from the human, mechanical and engineering aspects, or rather, the controllable factors. Accident prevention can be made possible by first analyzing the various causes of airplane accidents, tabulating and arranging them from the cause that is most likely to result in airplane accidents to the least likely cause and then identifying preventive measures for each likely cause. Safety programs can be most effective when incorporated correctly into the design and structure of an aircraft by taking into account various factors, ranging from poor weather conditions and bird strikes (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
Different aids can be used in accident prevention. Intelligent weather decision making tools, including worldwide real time moving map displays can be used to improve visibility in different weather conditions. The program should be proactive and be able to quickly repair any impairment that may occur. The program should enable the users to monitor and assess flight related data for various issues, increase the survival rate when accidents do occur and evolve with time, to incorporate changing needs of the system. The emphasis of the program should lie upon preventing of accidents by taking the adequate necessary safety measures and by ensuring the presence of important safety guidelines (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
While accident prevention is concerned with reducing the number of airline accidents caused by controllable factors, accident mitigation deals with making the accidents less damaging or fatal. This part of the safety program can be well addressed by determining the design of aircraft seats, safety belts and reliable structures (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
The last aspect of the aviation safety program, system monitoring and simulation considers and focuses on the data-collection techniques. It revolves around simulating where accidents might happen and what features in an aircraft may be necessary to prevent those accidents. Appropriate system monitoring will assist in dealing with unforeseen incidents (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
Synthetic Vision Systems
One of the safety features of an aircraft, include the use of synthetic vision by the pilots. This comes under the accident prevention phase. Synthetic visions systems are used to address the issue of limited visibility the single most leading factor in causing aviation fatalities. Synthetic vision systems work to present a clear picture of what lies ahead of the plane to the pilot, regardless of the weather conditions. It presents a virtual display of things facing the plane (Synthetic Vision Would Give Pilots Clear Skies All The Time, 2000).
Michael Lewis, Director of NASA believes that with Global Positioning System signals pilots can now know exactly where they are and that three dimensional moving scenes can be used to show what is outside, with the help of very accurate terrain databases and graphical displays (Synthetic Vision Would Give Pilots Clear Skies All The Time, 2000).
These safety features, when incorporated in the safety program of an aircrafts, can very much limit the limited visibility problems faced due to mostly poor weather conditions. The virtual displays are programmed to show obstacles, terrain, air traffic, landing and approach patterns and runways surfaces etc. without letting the weather conditions be an hindrance to vision. Synthetic visions systems help improve the situation awareness of the plane, and thus can greatly benefit pilots in their task of steering the plane away from obstacles, and reduce the number of airline accidents caused by human or decision making error (Synthetic Vision Would Give Pilots Clear Skies All The Time, 2000) (Federal Aviation Administration, 2008)
Flight Simulation
One other very important aspect of an effective safety program is flight simulation that enables modeling a real flight to practice responding to emergency circumstances and for foreseeing events that could occur during a flight something that may be difficult to identify when considering the various likelihoods of events without actually creating a real time situation (Soekkha, 1997).
The objective of flight simulation is to recreate the flight of airlines on the ground. The importance of flight simulation can be judged from the fact that more than 500 flight simulators are in place throughout the world for the purpose of testing a real flight on the ground. Despite the heavy costs of using flight simulation, it is still widely used by airline companies for its benefits (Rolfe Staples, 2004).
Flight simulation leads to increased training, and hands on experience before actually travelling by a plane it assists in the training of flight officers, thus minimizing their reaction time in case of an emergency on an actual flight the increased efficiency implies that lesser effort has to be made for a corrective action and overall training costs are reduced, as mistakes are rectified. Even though recreating the same conditions on the ground is a challenge, the use of flight simulation has led to increased understanding of the aircrafts and innovation in technologies related to aviation (Rolfe Staples, 2004).
For any safety program to be effective, it is imperative that the senior management communicate their objectives about aviation safety clearly, so that the emphasis on aviation safety is emphasized on all levels of the organization and not just at the strategic level. An organization needs to be flexible and innovative to take account of the growing needs of the environment, new global challenges that affect aviation, such as terrorism while making the whole process cost effective (Soekkha, 1997).
Important issues regarding emergency situations be discussed on a daily basis so that safety of an aircraft doesnt go unheeded. Another important aspect of aviation safety is aviation safety management. They play a great role in enhancing the confidence of pilots and managing the safety mechanism of an aircraft. The flight attendants and officers should be well-versed in responding to emergency situations and the co-pilot should be prepared to take charge, in case the pilot finds him-self unable to take control of the plane for whatever circumstances. A detailed knowhow of aircraft systems, procedures, tactics, emergency procedures, and general knowledge is a must have for the flight offers and pilot (Soekkha, 1997).
Even though the air travel is considered relative safe, as compared to travelling by road in motorcycles or car etc., when accidents do occur, the damage is very hard to mitigate and control, thus, the importance of aviation safety cannot be undermined.
Causes of Accidents
The causes of such accidents can be many and varied, ranging from poor weather conditions, to pilot error and from clashes of the plane with birds to natural phenomena, such as lightning, ice or snow. Pilot error is commonly called human error and account for more than 50 of the airline accidents. Other reasons include engineering defaults, mechanical failure, terrorism, sabotage and other causes (Chandler, 1996).
Even though the most significant cause of airline accidents is due to pilot error the aircraft design plays a great part in determining the safety of an aircraft. If the design lacks in an important safety component, the odds of the pilot error occurring and the resulting damages may be greater. In order to mitigate the risks of being involved in aircraft accidents and to revive the confidence of the general public in air travel, many developments are being made in the area of aviation safety (Chandler, 1996) (Harris Muir, 2005).
Safety Programs
An effective aviation safety program should revolve around the following three areas
Accident Prevention
Accident Mitigation
System Monitoring
(Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.)
Accident prevention involves tackling the issue of aviation safety from the human, mechanical and engineering aspects, or rather, the controllable factors. Accident prevention can be made possible by first analyzing the various causes of airplane accidents, tabulating and arranging them from the cause that is most likely to result in airplane accidents to the least likely cause and then identifying preventive measures for each likely cause. Safety programs can be most effective when incorporated correctly into the design and structure of an aircraft by taking into account various factors, ranging from poor weather conditions and bird strikes (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
Different aids can be used in accident prevention. Intelligent weather decision making tools, including worldwide real time moving map displays can be used to improve visibility in different weather conditions. The program should be proactive and be able to quickly repair any impairment that may occur. The program should enable the users to monitor and assess flight related data for various issues, increase the survival rate when accidents do occur and evolve with time, to incorporate changing needs of the system. The emphasis of the program should lie upon preventing of accidents by taking the adequate necessary safety measures and by ensuring the presence of important safety guidelines (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
While accident prevention is concerned with reducing the number of airline accidents caused by controllable factors, accident mitigation deals with making the accidents less damaging or fatal. This part of the safety program can be well addressed by determining the design of aircraft seats, safety belts and reliable structures (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
The last aspect of the aviation safety program, system monitoring and simulation considers and focuses on the data-collection techniques. It revolves around simulating where accidents might happen and what features in an aircraft may be necessary to prevent those accidents. Appropriate system monitoring will assist in dealing with unforeseen incidents (Aviation Safety Program Fact Sheet, n.d.).
Synthetic Vision Systems
One of the safety features of an aircraft, include the use of synthetic vision by the pilots. This comes under the accident prevention phase. Synthetic visions systems are used to address the issue of limited visibility the single most leading factor in causing aviation fatalities. Synthetic vision systems work to present a clear picture of what lies ahead of the plane to the pilot, regardless of the weather conditions. It presents a virtual display of things facing the plane (Synthetic Vision Would Give Pilots Clear Skies All The Time, 2000).
Michael Lewis, Director of NASA believes that with Global Positioning System signals pilots can now know exactly where they are and that three dimensional moving scenes can be used to show what is outside, with the help of very accurate terrain databases and graphical displays (Synthetic Vision Would Give Pilots Clear Skies All The Time, 2000).
These safety features, when incorporated in the safety program of an aircrafts, can very much limit the limited visibility problems faced due to mostly poor weather conditions. The virtual displays are programmed to show obstacles, terrain, air traffic, landing and approach patterns and runways surfaces etc. without letting the weather conditions be an hindrance to vision. Synthetic visions systems help improve the situation awareness of the plane, and thus can greatly benefit pilots in their task of steering the plane away from obstacles, and reduce the number of airline accidents caused by human or decision making error (Synthetic Vision Would Give Pilots Clear Skies All The Time, 2000) (Federal Aviation Administration, 2008)
Flight Simulation
One other very important aspect of an effective safety program is flight simulation that enables modeling a real flight to practice responding to emergency circumstances and for foreseeing events that could occur during a flight something that may be difficult to identify when considering the various likelihoods of events without actually creating a real time situation (Soekkha, 1997).
The objective of flight simulation is to recreate the flight of airlines on the ground. The importance of flight simulation can be judged from the fact that more than 500 flight simulators are in place throughout the world for the purpose of testing a real flight on the ground. Despite the heavy costs of using flight simulation, it is still widely used by airline companies for its benefits (Rolfe Staples, 2004).
Flight simulation leads to increased training, and hands on experience before actually travelling by a plane it assists in the training of flight officers, thus minimizing their reaction time in case of an emergency on an actual flight the increased efficiency implies that lesser effort has to be made for a corrective action and overall training costs are reduced, as mistakes are rectified. Even though recreating the same conditions on the ground is a challenge, the use of flight simulation has led to increased understanding of the aircrafts and innovation in technologies related to aviation (Rolfe Staples, 2004).
For any safety program to be effective, it is imperative that the senior management communicate their objectives about aviation safety clearly, so that the emphasis on aviation safety is emphasized on all levels of the organization and not just at the strategic level. An organization needs to be flexible and innovative to take account of the growing needs of the environment, new global challenges that affect aviation, such as terrorism while making the whole process cost effective (Soekkha, 1997).
Important issues regarding emergency situations be discussed on a daily basis so that safety of an aircraft doesnt go unheeded. Another important aspect of aviation safety is aviation safety management. They play a great role in enhancing the confidence of pilots and managing the safety mechanism of an aircraft. The flight attendants and officers should be well-versed in responding to emergency situations and the co-pilot should be prepared to take charge, in case the pilot finds him-self unable to take control of the plane for whatever circumstances. A detailed knowhow of aircraft systems, procedures, tactics, emergency procedures, and general knowledge is a must have for the flight offers and pilot (Soekkha, 1997).
Even though the air travel is considered relative safe, as compared to travelling by road in motorcycles or car etc., when accidents do occur, the damage is very hard to mitigate and control, thus, the importance of aviation safety cannot be undermined.
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