Aviation Saftey

Flying, they tell us is the safest form of transport. The statistics certainly seem to back up the airlines statements. Seemingly incredible claims are thrown around by the certain Authorities responsible for overseeing our safety within the airports and in the sky. One of the best I have heard was from Carl Vogt Chairman of the US NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) who stated “If you took a scheduled flight every day, it would take 4000 years before you were likely to be in some, probably minor, accident – and still have a fifty-fifty chance of survival.” Very re-assuring I’m sure. Let me put it another way. Twice every week I stake £2 on the National Lottery. At the odds that they quote it should be some 70,000 years before I win. But every week some 10 or so people find themselves beating those odds to become that weeks one in 14,000,000 statistic. Is this such an acceptable level of risk? So what are the major issues effecting aviation safety. A personal opinion is that the greatest risk to your safety and mine is that of air traffic control and subsequent mid air collisions but I’ll come to that later. Other risks are the human factor, weather, maintenance and terrorism. All of these are quoted from time to time as being the cause of some major air disaster that graces the front pages of our newspapers and horrifies us with 24hr images of crash scenes on CNN. A media and public frenzy follows and then dies down as some other far more newsworthy event takes over. Forgotten, for most of us we then board our annual holiday flight full of excitement for the adventure that lies ahead, without a care in the world. Seldom is an accident or incident the result of a single cause. There are exceptions to this rule but often the investigators as they trawl through the gruesome wreckage will uncover a series of events or circumstances that led to the tragic outcome. Perhaps a combination of poor weather, an inexperienced pilot in the particular aircraft type and a diversion to an unfamiliar airport may combine, with horrific consequences. When two 747’s collided on the runway in thick fog at Tenerife airport, the weather combined with the fact that the planes had diverted from Gran Canaria (due to a bomb) and a pilot too keen to get underway due to his already extended flying hours, added to some difficulty with understanding Spanish Air Traffic Controller commands and you have the worlds worst aviation disaster (ironically on the ground). Take out any of these factors and it may have never had occurred. Another tragic example (the world’s single worst aviation accident) involved a Japan Airlines 747 on a short internal flight. This plane had suffered a damaged fuselage when it was backed into the terminal building sometime previously. This was repaired but the incorrect riveting meant that it was not as strong as it should have been. This alone may not have been enough to cause the structural failure, which separated the tail from the fuselage and rendered the jet unflyable. But this was a specially modified jumbo (capable of carrying over 550 passengers) for short haul commuter flights across Japan. This meant that the number of takeoffs and landings was greatly increased and therefore the number of times the fuselage was subject to the stresses of pressurisation. Had it not been for this additional factor maybe the incorrect riveting would not have failed so quickly and been discovered in time to prevent disaster. The highly skilled and dedicated Air Traffic Controllers that guide the pilots through our crowded skies face what seems an increasingly difficult task. The number of planes soaring through our skies grows almost daily whilst the technology controlling them seems to stand still. It seems absurd in this day of super computers that can carryout calculations so huge and complex well beyond the average persons comprehension, that the control tower at Heathrow is full of bits of paper on wooden blocks each representing anywhere upto 500 human lives. The advent of highly sophisticated collision avoidance systems has helped a great deal, but the best and most efficient systems require both planes to be fitted with the same transponders to ensure ultimate safety. It seems as the number of major aviation disasters decreases, especially those involving the major western carriers, the number of reported ‘near-misses’ is on the increase. The authorities claim that only 20% of the 40 near misses reported over UK airspace each year poses any risk. That means that every 6 weeks somewhere over the UK two planes loaded with faithful fare paying passengers are subjected to what apparently is considered an ‘acceptable risk’. How long before the 20% becomes 30% and the number of reported incidents increases to 60 ? That’s one every 3 weeks. How long before two planes collide over a crowded city. The ensuing media frenzy will I’m sure demand heads will roll and all manor of legislative changes but why do we seem prepared to wait until disaster strikes before acting on the inevitable requirements today ? As a very regular flyer (and previously someone with a very real fear of flying) I love the flying experience, the views, the sensations and the ability to cover vast distances in relative comfort. But the issues I have raised above still concern me and when booking flights I try always to make the correct, informed decision on my choice of carrier. I always choose major carriers, national carriers where possible (such as BA, Qantas or United). Avoid airlines flying into unfamiliar airports and those where problems have been reported previously (Valuejet springs to mind). Those with financial problems should also be avoided. The financial crisis in Indonesia had a knock-on effect on airlines, followed by a number of disasters involving Korean and Garuda airlines, coincidence? Well I hope the above is interesting and informative and not too scary. It’s certainly not meant to be, I firmly believe that an informed flyer is a safer one. This is my first attempt at writing anything for the guide and I would welcome any comments that you may have.

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airline safety	Mar 1, 2000
Tales to put you off flying	Nov 22, 1999

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