Introduction According to the Air Safety Institute (ASI) (2014), during the past ten years, 264 accidents were caused by continued Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight into Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). Eighty-nine percent of these accidents were fatal causing hundreds of deaths. Despite initiatives by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) these statistics continue to be a concern for the aviation community. Previous quantitative research has focused on identification of causal factors, decision making process and new technology (Shappell & Wiegmann, 2009). Recent efforts have investigated and evaluated the effectiveness of safety programs intended to mitigate risks associated with weather (Shappell et. al, 2012). Contrary to popular opinion, good judgment can be taught. Tradition held that good judgment was a natural by-product of experience, but as pilots continued to log accident-free flight hours, a corresponding increase of good judgment was assumed (FAA, 2012). Learning positive aeronautical decision making should begin on the first day of flight training. Aeronautical decision making (ADM) “is decision-making in a unique environment—aviation. It is a systematic approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances. It is what a pilot intends to do based on the latest information he or she has” (FAA, 2012 p.1). ADM is necessary in all situations but this study will pertain to specifically ADM regarding VFR flight into IMC conditions. In the General Aviation Pilot’s Guide to Preflight Weather Planning, Weather Self-Briefings, and Weather Decision Making handbook (200... ... middle of paper ... ... Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage. Federal Aviation Administration. (2012). Pilot handbook. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/pilot_handbook/media/PHAK%20-%20Chapter%2017.pdf Federal Aviation Administration. (2010). Mission. Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/about/mission/ Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Shappell, S., Holcomb, K., Hackworth, C., Lanicci, J., Bazargan, M., Baron, J & Halperin, D. (2012). General Aviation Weather Encounter Case Studies. Shappell, S., & Wiegmann, D. (2009). A methodology for assessing safety programs targeting human error in aviation. The International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 19(3), 252-269. Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Sage.
Lucas, C. (1997 September) Chief Airey. Air Force Magazine, vol 80. Retrieved from http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1997/September 1997/0997airey.aspx
First of all, let us talk a little about VFR. Here is the definition of VFR: Flight rules adopted by Federal Aviation Administration governing aircraft flight using visual references to fly the aircraft. VFR operations specify the amount of ceiling and the visibility the pilot must have in order to operate according to these rules. The weather conditions during VFR are generally clear and enough to allow the pilot to see where the plane is and what is going on outside the airplane, it can help the pilot to fly the airplane without or not often seeing inside the airplane. The time that pilot use to look outside during VFR can be up to 80 percent or 90 percent or more, when the weather conditions are not very good, like it is very cloudy and the ceiling is just 1000 feet high and the visibility is no more than 1 mile so that the pilot cannot fly according to VFR safely, he or she must use instrument flight r...
The Colgan Air Flight 3407 was a very interesting case to look at. On February 12, 2009, at 10:17 pm, flight 3407 crashed at a house in New York after the pilots experience a stall. Flight 3407 was scheduled to fly from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo, New York. The NTSB reported the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) revealed some discrepancies both pilots were experience. The first officer did not have any experience with icing condition but icing was one of the reasons the plane went into a stall. On the other hand, the captain had some experience flying in icing condition. The captain was experiencing fatigue, which indeed, made him unfit to recover from a stall. With that in mind, the Human Factor Analysis Classification System (HFACS) will give insight of some errors both pilots made.
Human related causes account for approximately three out of every four accidents. Weather related accidents is a cause beyond human control, and includes
Knight, M. (2007, 06 14). Fact or Fiction?: If the Sky Is Green, Run for Cover—A Tornado Is
As we all know, safety is fundamental to the aviation industry. There are many factors will cause dangerous to flights, such as human factors, problem of aircraft structures and so on. Flight safety has many challenges. Due to the climate variability and suddenness, meteorology has become a severe problem in aviation. Many air crashes are in the result of bad weather. In generally speaking, there are several weather phenomenon have much influence on flights, like turbulence, including clear air turbulence, thunderstorms, icing, volcanic ash. People have spent a lot of energy in predicting and avoiding these weather problems. According to the NASA Langley Research Center, in the 1970s and 1980s, multiple aviation accidents were attributed to wind shear phenomenon. So it is important for us to know its causes and features so that we can predict it more accurate to ensure the aviation safety. This essay will firstly introduce the definitions of microburst and wind shear, and the relations between them. Following this, it will explain these weather phenomenon’s effects on flight and discuss some air crash cases. Finally it will look at the approaches to avoiding microburst and wind shear from different aspects in order to keep the flights’ safety. As we all know ,a good pilot is not the pilot who survive in a bad situation ,if a pilot take chance to do something with bad weather ,the pilot is not profession .I think a good pilot is the person that he can make a good decision to decide to fly or cancel the flight .Most of the experience captions will not take any risk to doing missions with the bad weather ,such as the microburst or the wind shear ,it is stupid ,so we should know the weather conditio...
Final Report No. 1793 by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved from skybrary: http://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/989.pdf
Aviation has come a long way since the 19th century, from the Wright brothers taking flight with the first powered and controlled gliders, to aircraft that can travel up to supersonic speeds, orbiting satellites and space stations which then were only thought to be science-fiction. Aerospace and aviation has proven to be one of the biggest challenges to advance in the entirety of human existence. There are many factors and characteristics that contributed to this advancement such as the engines of aircraft, forces of flight, aerodynamic forces, wingspans etc. The two most significant aspects however have been; World War 1 and World War 2.
When it comes to safety most people think they are safe, and they have a true understanding on how to work safe. Human nature prevents us from harming ourselves. Our instincts help protect us from harm. Yet everyday there are injuries and deaths across the world due to being unsafe. What causes people to work unsafe is one of the main challenges that face all Safety Managers across the world.
...xpected weather conditions over time, previous weather conditions, possible areas of less deteriorating weather conditions, expected duration of bad weather condition.
... problem are under constant development and analysis, in a hope to avoid these situations. The civilian industry continues to lead in development due to commercialization, with the military not far behind. The only real deficiency in CRM program development seems to be the area of general aviation as described earlier. Until this problem is addressed, there will still be a glaring weakness in the general area of aviation safety. However, with the rate of technology increase and cheaper methods of instruction, we should begin to see this problem addressed in the near future. Until then, aviation will rely on civil commercial aviation the military to continue research and program development for the years to come, hopefully resulting in an increasingly safe method of travel and recreation.
Prior to 1959, faulty equipment was the probable cause for many airplane accidents, but with the advent of jet engines, faulty equipment became less of a threat, while human factors gained prominence in accident investigations (Kanki, Helmreich & Anca, 2010). From 1959 to 1989, pilot error was the cause of 70% of accident resulting in the loss of hull worldwide (Kanki, Helmreich & Anca, 2010). Due to these alarming statistics, in 1979 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) implemented a workshop called “Resource Management on the Flightdeck” that led to what is now known as Crew Resource Management (CRM) or also known as Cockpit Resource Management (Rodrigues & Cusick, 2012). CRM is a concept that has been attributed to reducing human factors as a probable cause in aviation accidents. The concepts of CRM weren’t widely accepted by the aviation industry, but through its history, concepts, and eventual implementation, Crew Resource Management has become an invaluable resource for pilots as well as other unrelated industries around the world.
In a moment an unwise choice can completely derail your best developed goals or rather a wise decision can get you out of the murkiest of situations with ease. Now making a choice comes with responsibilities. The choices you make will affect not only you but also the people around you. At a personal level the things which drive our decisions are our emotions, our memories and our reasoning. At an organisational level it is always weighed according to the pros and cons of the decision.
Aviation Accident Data 2006. Annual Review NTSB/ARG-10/01, pp. 38-50. Retrieved Feburary 6, 2011, from http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2010/ARG1001.pdf
Decision-Making Process: Improving Our Ability to Make Decision Facing a situation, you have to decide. For example, the fire surrounds you: What do you do? Jump through the windows and risk to kill yourself or to wait the firemen and risk to be burned to death if they come to late? Every decision that we make or don’t make shapes our future.