Continuous effort must be made to achieve further improvements in commercial aviation’s current level of safety. These graphs show that even if the current level of safety is maintained in the future, the number of commercial-aviation accidents is likely to increase because of the ever-growing numbers of aircraft, passengers and operations.

Accident data show the most pressing safety problems facing the aviation industry today, and these are the areas where the Foundation has been focusing most of its attention. They are:

• Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) — During the past 10 years, this has caused more than half of all commercial aviation fatalities;
• Approach and landing — This is the period during flight when about half of all accidents occur, many of them CFIT accidents;
• Loss of control, which in recent times, has challenged CFIT as the leading cause of aviation deaths; and,
• Human factors — In 85 percent of all accidents, human error has been involved. This is not unique to aviation; human errors occur in any industry. And in aviation, it is not necessarily the pilot who makes mistakes. Mistakes can be made by an airline manager on the ground, a mechanic, an air traffic controller and even aircraft designers.

These four problems surpass all other aviation-accident causes. Directing our full attention to these causes and eliminating them, rather than diverting our efforts and resources to lesser problems, will lead to the largest reductions in the accident rate.

This has been the main thrust of FSF activities, especially during the past four years. Focus on these four causes of accidents also has been embraced by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Ultimately, CFIT will be eliminated by technology. Terrain awareness and warning systems (TAWS) are available to show the pilot the aircraft’s location in relation to the ground and give ample warning of an impending collision. But to equip the entire fleet worldwide will require time and will be expensive. And in some aircraft types, particularly older ones that will be used for 20 more years or so, it will not be possible to fit the equipment at all.

The Foundation believes that significant reductions in the CFIT accident rate can be effected relatively inexpensively and quickly by education, training and awareness — at least a 50 percent improvement is possible. For the past several years, together with ICAO,the International Air Transport Association and many other organizations, the Foundation has led an international effort to reduce CFIT through a task force comprising 150 people representing the industry worldwide. Their work has generated a number of CFIT educational, training and awareness products.

These products — CFIT Education and Training Aid, a two-volume training package developed under the auspices of the FSF CFIT Task Force and produced by the Boeing Commercial Airplanes; CFIT checklists translated into the six official ICAO languages, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish; and a video training aid, CFIT: Awareness and Prevention, which examines several CFIT accidents and presents cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data and simulation to illustrate accident-reduction strategies. With the help of The Boeing Co., Airbus, Saab, Aero International, Gulfstream, Bombardier and other airframe manufacturers — all working together under the neutral umbrella of the Foundation — these products have been distributed to commercial aircraft operators worldwide. They also have been distributed to the world’s civil aviation regulatory authorities, as well as to major training organizations.

This mammoth undertaking, led by the Foundation, is aimed at making every pilot in the world aware of CFIT and providing training on how to avoid it.

The Foundation is leading another international task force that is tackling approach-and-landing accidents and is producing a range of educational and training products similar to those of the CFIT effort. In addition, the Foundation is a full participant in an industry effort aimed at preventing “loss-of-control” accidents.

The successes of these task forces are prime examples of how the aviation industry is taking positive action to improve safety. They also refute the misconception that nothing is done until there is an accident. These actions are aimed at preventing accidents, as with all FSF efforts, and the Foundation will continue to focus on those areas to achieve the best results and save lives.

FOQA

With respect to human factors, the Foundation has long communicated the importance of identifying mistakes that people have made and determining why they made those mistakes. The Foundation vigorously has advocated programs for the analysis of the flight data available aboard most commercial aircraft today. These programs, known as flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) programs — combined with confidential, nonpunitive reporting systems, especially for pilots — have been extremely effective in some parts of the world as a means of identifying problems and preventing accidents. In the United States, the objections and concerns about FOQA programs are being overcome.

Nevertheless, the Foundation continues to be concerned that U.S. programs will be impeded by the legal process of discovery. The risk of plaintiffs’ lawyers in a law suit gaining access to such confidential information threatens FOQA programs, undoubtedly to the detriment of aviation safety.

Previous page

Top of page

| Home | About FSF | Safety Services | Awards | Publications |
| Media Center | Technical Initiatives | Membership | Seminars |

| President’s Remarks | Priorities | Officers and Staff | Boards/Committees | Library |