Today’s Aviation safety concerns have not really changed over time except for the emerging safety issues addressed at the end of this article. The top three categories that according to the 2018 ICAO report are Runway Safety, Loss of Control in-flight (LOC-I) and Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).
Runway safety issues include runway excursions, contaminated runways, high approach speeds, unstable approaches and go-around decision making. Landings or controlled crashes as we know are dangerous and require the utmost attention by flight crews even in today’s fully automated aircraft. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board lists runway overruns and unstable approaches on its Watchlist 2016 of top safety concerns, and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau lists "handling approach to land" on its most recent SafetyWatch. One fatal accident in the 2012–2016 period falls into this category, which covers aircraft-to-aircraft or aircraft-to-other-vehicle conflicts on taxiways and runways. Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) includes risk of collisions on runways on its Watchlist 2016. TSB data show 27 serious runway incursions at Canada’s airports from 2011 through 2015, and the board “remains concerned that serious runway incursions will continue to occur until better defenses are put in place.” This category covers runway incursions, taxiway incursions, landing without clearance, airport markings and tower communications. A Runway Safety Implementation Kit was been developed by world’s leading aircraft regulatory and safety organizations to provide references and tools for planning and training.
Loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) has been one of the most significant causes of fatal accidents and 40% of General Aviation (GA) accidents between 2001 and 2011. LOC-I usually occurs because the aircraft enters a flight regime that is outside its normal envelope (low speed, high pitch, high bank, or weight & balance); typically, this even happens very quickly giving the flight crew little time to react. A major cause of the LOC-I are environmental factors such a turbulence in clear air or from aircraft wake vortices, microbursts, etc.
Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) is one of three high-risk accident occurrence categories identified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This basically “crashing” the aircraft into an obstacle whether it’s the ground, a water body, cell tower, etc. without indication of loss of control. It typically occurs when the flight crew is disoriented and believes there is nothing wrong as in the case of the Air New Zealand Flight 901where the obstacle was Mount Erebus in Antartica.
Other categories according the Flight Safety Foundation include:
Mechanical issues such as engine/power loss issues, landing gear functionality, loss of critical flight controls, and non-engine system/component failure. Includes failures or malfunctions of any of the following: propellers, rotors, propeller/main rotor drive train, reversers, and powerplant controls. Mechanical issues often are divided into two categories: system/component failure–powerplant (SCF–PP), and system/component failure–non-powerplant (SCF–NP).
Sabotage and other intentional acts, such as hijacking, terrorism or direct military action, are not considered accidents as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and, as such, are not always included in sources of aviation safety statistics. For example, Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320, was intentionally crashed in the French Alps in March 2015 by its suicidal copilot, killing all 150 people on board, according to the final accident report from the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses. The Germanwings crash is included in the Aviation Safety Network database and in the Foundation's count of fatal accidents, but it is not included in the International Air Transport Association’s 2015 accident or fatality count because it did not fit into that organization’s accident criteria.
Wildlife such as animal strikes accounted for one fatal accident in the past five years. This category includes conflicts with birds, primarily on takeoff and during approach and landing, and conflict with terrestrial animals on the ground during the takeoff roll or landing. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains a wildlife strike database searchable by the general public and where pilots can submit strike reports. The database lists 227,715 strike reports between January 1st 1990 and May 31st 2019 or an average of about 7,852 per year.
Fatigue is often listed as a contributing factor in accident reports, but the ASN database does not include any fatal accidents where fatigue is cited as the primary cause. Still, it is an internationally recognized issue related to the broader issue of fitness for duty. The reduction of fatigue-related accidents is on the NTSB’s 2017-2018 Most Wanted List.
Cabin safety can include topics related to survivability following a crash, to operational issues such as flying into turbulence, and to the threat posed by hostile or unruly passengers. According to IATA, there were more than 49,000 reported cases of unruly passenger incidents in flight between 2007 and 2015. Cabin safety is not an accident category.
Finally the “Emerging Safety Issues” and includes Lithium batteries carried as cargo, checked baggage or as carry-on affects. The latest FAA requirements mandate that Lithium batteries of more than 100 watt hours are prohibited in checked bags and upon pre-approval by the carrier up to two batteries of less than 160 watt hours each can be included as carry-ons. The security of information needed to safely transport passengers and goods also impacts overall safety. In the rush to collect as much information as possible to ensure that a passenger’s identify can be verified before boarding that the passenger and/or baggage associated with the passenger does endanger the safety of fellow travelers, crew and aircraft there have been information security controls. In some cases, the availability of this information contradicts the secrecy as in the case of trying to keep known terrorists out of the air transportation system. In this case it becomes more important to provide as much information as possible to agents at the different checkpoints than the privacy of an individual. Finally, the safe integration of unmanned aircraft — commonly referred to as "drones" or more precisely unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) — into civilian airspace is an urgent global issue driven by consumer, industrial and military demand. The fundamental risk posed by UAVs is collision with other aircraft either through the loss of control through un-intentional means such as UAV moving outside the range of the controlling unit and/or hardware/software malfunctions. With the capability of autonomous UAV control the possibility of software malfunction is much greater especially if it’s the cause of malicious behavior.
