Flight Safety Foundation Flight Safety Digest 1996

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December 1996

Special Safety Report: Review of Helicopter Offshore Safety and Survival

This special issue of Flight Safety Digest reprints in its entirety a report on a study of offshore helicopter safety conducted by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The study report Review of Helicopter Offshore Safety and Survival (Report no. CAP 641), examines offshore operations as an “integrated system, with the intention of maximizing the prospects of occupants surviving a helicopter accident at sea.” 88 pages. This issue is no longer available.

November 1996

Icarus Committee Report: Aviation Safety: Airline Management Self-audit 28 pages. [PDF 136K]

One of the most powerful tools available to management is honest and critical self-assessment. To assist in such a self-appraisal, the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) Icarus Committee, comprising a group of recognized international specialists in aviation, has developed an Airline Management Self-audit for airline management and their senior staff. The self-audit’s primary function is to help management identify areas of vulnerability so that appropriate corrective and preventive measures can be taken before there is a serious incident or an accident.

September–October 1996

Special Double Issue: The Interface Between Flightcrews and Modern Flight Deck Systems

This special double issue of Flight Safety Digest is a report prepared by a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) human factors team charged with evaluating “flightcrew/flight deck automation interfaces of current-generation transport category airplanes.” The study team included representatives from the FAA’s aircraft certification and flight standards services, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and technical advisors from Ohio State University, the University of Illinois and the University of Texas. 212 pages. This issue is no longer available.

July–August 1996

Special Double Issue: Dubrovnik-bound Flight Crew’s Improperly Flown Nonprecision Instrument Approach Results in Controlled-flight-into-terrain Accident 54 pages. [PDF 416K]

On April 3, 1996, the crew of the U.S. Air Force CT-43A (Boeing 737-200) was flying a nondirectional radio beacon (NDB) approach in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) to Runway 12 at the Cilipi Airport, Dubrovnik, Croatia, when the aircraft collided with a 701-meter (2,300-foot) mountain. All six crew members and all 29 passengers were killed in the accident.

June 1996

Special Safety Report: Challenge 2000: Recommendations for Future Aviation Safety Regulation

This issue of the Flight Safety Digest is a special report prepared under contract to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that examines the “future aviation safety regulatory environment” and makes recommendations “designed to reposition [the FAA’s Office of Regulation and Certification] for anticipated changes in the environment it regulates.” The report, conducted by Booz Allen and Hamilton Inc., calls for “sweeping changes in [the Office of Regulation and Certification’s] regulatory philosophy and approach, its organization, the deployment of its resources and its mix of skills.” 56 pages. This issue is no longer available.

April–May 1996

Special Double Issue: An Analysis of Controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) Accidents of Commercial Operators, 1988 Through 1994 39 pages. [PDF 407K]

Accident statistics suggest that controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) remains one of the leading categories of air carrier accidents. According to one widely quoted definition, a controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accident is one in which an otherwise serviceable aircraft, under the control of the crew, is flown (unintentionally) into terrain, obstacles or water, with no prior awareness on the part of the crew of the impending collision.

March 1996

Special FSF Safety Report: Airport Safety: A Study of Accidents and Available Approach-and-landing Aids 47 pages. [PDF 241K]

Many factors influence the overall risk of approach-and-landing accidents, including airport landing aids, air traffic control and operator standards and practices. But data indicate that airports can significantly minimize risk with precision approach-and-landing guidance facilities.

February 1996

Special Safety Report: Air Traffic Control Equipment Outages

This Flight Safety Digest reprints the full text of a U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) special investigation report (NTSB/SIR-96/01) which addresses safety concerns related to a series of air traffic control (ATC) equipment outages in the United States. 48 pages. This issue is no longer available.

January 1996

Pilots Can Minimize the Likelihood of Aircraft Roll Upset in Severe Icing 24 pages. [PDF 270K]

Under unusual conditions associated with supercooled large droplets, roll upset can result from ice accretion on a sensitive area of the wing, aft of the deicing boots. Pilots must be sensitive to cues — visual, audible and tactile — that identify severe icing conditions, and then promptly exit the icing conditions before control of the airplane is degraded to a hazardous level.