Aviation accident in which a pilot unintentionally flies an airworthy aircraft into an obstacle
In
aviation
, a
controlled flight into terrain
(
CFIT
; usually
SEE
-fit
) is an
accident
in which an
airworthy
aircraft, fully under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of water or an obstacle.
[1]
[2]
In a typical CFIT scenario, the
crew
is unaware of the impending collision until impact, or it is too late to avert. The term was coined by engineers at
Boeing
in the late 1970s.
[3]
Accidents where the aircraft is out of control at the time of impact, because of mechanical failure or
pilot error
, are classified instead as uncontrolled flight into terrain, or UFIT. Incidents resulting from the deliberate action of the person at the controls, such as a
forced landing
, an act of
terrorism
, or
suicide by pilot
, are also excluded from the definition of CFIT.
According to
Boeing
in 1997, CFIT was a leading cause of airplane accidents involving the loss of life, causing over 9,000 deaths since the beginning of the commercial
jet aircraft
.
[4]
CFIT was identified as a cause of 25% of
USAF
Class A mishaps between 1993 and 2002.
[5]
According to data collected by the
International Air Transport Association
(IATA) between 2008 and 2017, CFITs accounted for six percent of all
commercial aircraft
accidents, and was categorized as "the second-highest fatal accident category after
Loss of Control Inflight (LOC-I)
".
[2]
Causes
[
edit
]
While there are many reasons why an aircraft might crash into terrain, including poor weather and navigational equipment failure, pilot error is the most common factor found in CFIT accidents.
[1]
Behind such events there is often a loss of
situational awareness
by the pilot, who becomes unaware of their actual position and altitude in relation to the terrain below and immediately ahead of them. Fatigue can cause even highly experienced professionals to make significant errors, which culminate in a CFIT accident.
[6]
CFIT accidents frequently involve a collision with terrain such as hills or mountains during conditions of reduced visibility, while conducting an approach to landing at the destination airport. Sometimes a contributing factor can be subtle navigation equipment malfunctions which, if not detected by the crew, may mislead them into improperly guiding the aircraft, despite other information received from properly functioning equipment.
Solutions
[
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]
Before the installation of the first electronic terrain warning systems, the only defenses against CFIT were conventional see-and-avoid aviation practices, pilot simulator training,
crew resource management
(CRM) and radar surveillance by
air traffic services
. While refinements applied to those practices helped reduced the incidence of CFIT accidents, they did not eliminate them.
To further assist in preventing CFIT accidents, manufacturers developed
terrain awareness and warning systems
(TAWS). The first generation of those systems was known as a
ground proximity warning system
(GPWS), which used a
radar altimeter
to assist in calculating terrain closure rates. That system was further improved with the addition of a
GPS
terrain database and is now known as an enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS). When combined with mandatory pilot simulator training which emphasizes proper responses to any caution or warning event, the system has proved very effective in preventing further CFIT accidents.
[7]
Smaller aircraft often use a GPS database of terrain to provide terrain warning. The GPS database contains a database of nearby terrain and will present terrain that is near the aircraft in red or yellow depending on its distance from the aircraft.
[8]
The
sterile flight deck rule
was implemented to limit pilot distraction by banning any non-essential activities in the cockpit during critical phases of the flight, such as when operating at below 10,000 feet (3,000 m).
[9]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Boeing: Commercial Airplanes ? Jetliner Safety ? Industry's Role in Aviation Safety"
. Archived from
the original
on June 29, 2011
. Retrieved
2016-10-21
.
- ^
a
b
"IATA Controlled Flight Into Terrain Accident Analysis Report, 2008?2017 Data"
(PDF)
.
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
. 2018.
- ^
"Uncontrolled Flight into Terrain (UFIT)"
.
www.flighttrainingnews.co.uk
. Archived from
the original
on March 6, 2012.
- ^
"Boeing"
.
mediaroom.com
.
- ^
Air Force Magazine
, February 2004, Air Force Association, Arlington, VA.
- ^
Parmet, AJ; Ercoline, WR (2008). "6, Spatial Orientation in Flight". In Davis; Johnson; Stepanek; Fogarty (eds.).
Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine
(4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
ISBN
978-0781774666
.
- ^
"Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System - Honeywell Aerospace"
.
honeywell.com
. Archived from
the original
on 2014-07-18
. Retrieved
2009-11-04
.
- ^
"Garmin"
.
garmin.com
.
- ^
Baron, Robert A.
(1995).
"The Cockpit, the Cabin, and Social Psychology"
. airlinesafety.com. Archived from
the original
on 2013-12-04
. Retrieved
7 May
2018
.
External links
[
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]