Flight Safety Foundation Flight Safety Digest 1998

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November 1998–February 1999

Special FSF Report: Killers in Aviation: FSF Task Force Presents Facts about Approach-and-landing and Controlled-flight-into-terrain Accidents 288 pages. [PDF 1,551K]

This special report includes the most recent versions of working-group reports from the FSF Approach-and-landing Accident Reduction (ALAR) Task Force, as well as previously published reports that also include data about controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accidents. These combined reports present a unique and comprehensive review of ALAs and CFIT. This invaluable document is available in hard copy (Members: US$80; Nonmembers, US$120) purchase online using our secure server and your credit card.

October 1998

International Regulations Redefine V₁ 32 pages. [PDF 265K]

Recent revisions of the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations and the European Joint Aviation Requirements redefine V₁ as the maximum airspeed at which a flight crew must take the first action to safely reject a takeoff. Other revisions change the method of compensating for the time required by pilots to take action to reject a takeoff; require accelerate-stop data based on airplanes with fully worn brakes; and require wet-runway takeoff-performance data in airplane flight manuals.

July–September 1998

FSF’s Comprehensive FOQA Overview: Aviation Safety: U.S. Efforts to Implement Flight Operational Quality Assurance Programs 72 pages. [PDF 482K]

A recent report to the U.S. Congress by the General Accounting Office describes how the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and four U.S. airlines have implemented flight operational quality assurance programs. The report examines how FOQA enhances aviation safety, the costs and benefits, factors that impede implementation, and actions to overcome impediments.

May–June 1998

Special Double Issue: Boeing 757 CFIT Accident at Cali, Colombia, Becomes Focus of Lessons Learned 44 pages. [PDF 288K]

The author has identified 27 errors that he believes were involved in the controlled-flight-into-terrain accident. His analysis suggests specific operational methods and training strategies that might prevent similar accidents.

April 1998

Mixed-crew Operations Require Special Consideration in Company Flight Manuals 20 pages. [PDF 138K]

An accident in a Gulfstream IV flown by pilots employed by different companies calls attention to issues that arise in mixed-crew pairings based on interchange agreements.

February–March 1998

Special FSF ALAR Task Force Report: A Study of Fatal Approach-and-landing Accidents Worldwide, 1980–1996 64 pages. [PDF 365K]

A study commissioned by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority for Flight Safety Foundation examined in detail 287 fatal approach-and-landing accidents worldwide. Among the findings, were that 75 percent of the accidents occurred when a precision approach aid was not available or was not used; a disproportionate number of the accidents occurred at night; there were significant differences in the accident rates among world regions; and the leading causal factors were continuing the approach below decision height or minimum descent altitude in the absence of visual cues, and lack of positional awareness in the air.

January 1998

A Safe Flight into the Next Millennium 36 pages. [PDF 287K]

The National Civil Aviation Review Commission, created by the U.S. Congress, reviewed the U.S. aviation system in terms of both public funding and safety. In the safety portion of the report, the Commission emphasized the need for new forms of industry-government cooperation and the value of flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) programs and nonpunitive incident-reporting programs.