International Flight Accidents and Its Causes ABSTRACT In this project report “International Flight Accidents and Its Causes” we will discuss about the causes of flight accidents and causes behind them. We will explore technical failures as well as human failures which are responsible for plane crashes. Major international aviation accidents, both recent and previous are also discussed. The current situation of safety in airplanes as well as in airports is also mentioned. Thereafter, conclusion is given. The basic motto of this project report is to analyse the current international flight accidents and to check our capabilities for how can we deal with them. TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Acknowledgements------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 Abstract-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Causes of international flight accidents---------------------------------------------------------- 7-8 Recent accidents---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Biggest accidents in aviation history--------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Safety------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11-12 Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Webliography------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14 INTRODUCTION In the modern times airplanes are considered as the fastest mode of transport. They are reliable source of travelling but several risks are associated with them which passengers often neglect. International flights has made world a global village and it is big revenue earner for government and airline companies of all over the world. But from the starting these long range flights have met disastrous accidents claiming hundreds of life, some of the them met accident due to natural causes but most of them have met their end due to man-made components or terrorist activities. An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until all such persons have disembarked, where a person is fatally or seriously injured, the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure or the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible. The first fatal aviation accident occurred in a Wright Model A aircraft at Fort Myer, Virginia, USA, on September 17, 1908, resulting in injury to the pilot, Orville Wright and death of the passenger, Signal Corps Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge Wright Brothers – First Fatal Airplane Crash in 1908". About.com Inventors. Retrieved July 22, 2012 . An aviation incident is defined as an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the safety of operations. An accident in which the damage to the aircraft is such that it must be written off, or in which the plane is destroyed is a hull loss accident. But in recent times international flight crashes are on rise as compared to previous years. Recent cases such as Ukraine flight crash or MH- 370 of Malaysian airlines are still a mystery for investigation department. Moreover rise of terrorist groups pose a serious threat to security of commercial international flights and for domestic flights also. CAUSES OF INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT ACCIDENTS Human error: - Human error is the underlying cause in the majority of aircraft accidents. The person at fault may be a pilot, maintenance engineer, ground crew member, manager or supervisor, designer, or someone involved in the manufacture of an aircraft. Errors on the ground can include faulty aircraft construction or maintenance, incorrect instructions to air crew, mistakes in refuelling or securing the aircraft doors, overloading, and excessive stress on staff. In the air, pilots may make navigation errors, or choose to fly in cloudy conditions using visual cues such as landmarks instead of navigational instruments. Weather: - Failing to heed up-to-date weather forecasts is unwise in today’s world is a serious fault, where the elements are particularly changeable and intense due to the different types of terrains in different region of world and the. Severe weather can test the structural strength climate conditions hanging aircraft designed for conditions, and the skill of the pilots. CFIT: - Controlled flight into terrain, this type of accident can be the result of a pilot gradually getting used to flying lower and lower just for the thrill of it. However, it can also result from one isolated failure to keep track of the terrain, usually during a night flight. This is especially common in the lower regions around the world, where the general elevation of the terrain can be much higher than anticipated and sharp peaks often poke up out of otherwise level terrain. In November 2011, an experienced pilot took off just after dark in a Rockwell 690A and flew into a mountain east of Mesa, Arizona, minutes later, killing the three adults and three children on board. The high-performance airplane was reported to be a recent purchase by the co-pilot, and the FAA had recently altered the Class B airspace east of Mesa, reducing the clearance above the mountains for pilots departing to the east without getting a clearance through Class B airspace from ATC www.flyingmag.com/accidents. Scud running: - In general aviation, scud running is a practice in which pilots lower their altitude to avoid clouds or instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The goal of scud running is to stay clear of weather to continue flying with visual, rather than instrument, references. This practice is widely accepted to be dangerous, and has led to death in many cases from pilots flying into radio towers and high tension wires; however, even instrument-rated pilots sometimes elect to take the risk to avoid icing or embedded thunderstorms in cloud or in situations where the minimum instrument altitudes are too high for their aircraft Thomas, Horne (1988-08-01), "Instrument Insights Part 8 of 12: Tricks of the Trade", AOPA Pilot Magazine 41 (8) , Retrieved 2010-11-26. An ATP-rated pilot with 33,000 hours and seven type ratings in transport category airplanes hit a hilltop at an elevation of 2,500 feet. The pilot had left the Commander 680 at Palm Springs the day before due to bad weather at his planned destination in Chino, California. The next day he returned to Palm Springs to fly the airplane the 63 nm back to Chino. The weather was VFR at Palm Springs, but his route through the Banning Pass was obscured by dark clouds. The pilot had almost made it through the pass flying at altitudes as low as 700 when he turned southwest to avoid an area of moderate to heavy rain. He had just requested an IFR clearance when he impacted a small peak that rises 1,000 feet above the valley floor www.flyingmag.com/technique/accidents. Bird strikes: - Birds striking planes have accounted for about 200 deaths worldwide in the last 20 years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Terrorist activities: - Terrorist activities have played a significant role in major plane accidents over last 20 years. The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed almost 3,000 people and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage. Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Centre complex in New York City Inside 9/11: Zero Hour, National Geographic Channel documentary, 2005. RECENT ACCIDENTS On July 24, 2014, Air Algerie MD83 flight AH5017, the aircraft was on a scheduled international flight from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Algiers, Algeria. The airplane contacted air traffic control about 50 minutes after take-off, requesting a course change due to weather conditions. The aircraft crashed in the area of Gossi, Mali. All six crew members and 110 passengers were killed www.airsafe.com/events/last. On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 people on board was reported as brought down by a surface-to-air missile in an area of Eastern Ukraine near the Ukraine/Russian border. Three days later the international inspectors finally reached the crash site, after being held back by Russian separatists controlling the area. No survivors have been reported following this accident. There were 283 passengers, including 3 infants, and 15 crew members on board MH17. The crew were all Malaysian, while the 283 passengers were of various nationalities, the majority of them from the Netherlands Malaysia Airlines plane brought down in Ukraine, Big News Network.com, retrieved 17 July 2014.. On June 24, 2014, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK756, the aircraft was on a scheduled international flight from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Peshawar, Pakistan, when it was struck by several bullets shortly before landing. Two cabin crew members and one passenger were hit, and the passenger died of her injuries. There were no other injuries among the 10 other crew members or 177 other passengers www.airsafe.com/events/last. On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to China, diverted and disappeared with 239 people on board Nealy, Kimakra. "Malaysian Airlines 370 Tragedy Still Remains Unsolved", www.guardianlv.com. Guardian Liberty Voice. Retrieved 14 August 2014. BIGGEST ACCIDENTS IN AVIATION HISTORY The Tenerife disaster, which happened on March 27, 1977, remains the accident with the highest number of airliner passenger fatalities. 583 people died when a KLM Boeing 747 attempted to take off without clearance, and collided with a taxiing Pan Am 747 at Los Rodeos Airport on the Canary Island of Tenerife, Spain. There were no survivors from the KLM aircraft; 61 of the 396 passengers and crew on the Pan Am aircraft survived. Pilot error was the primary cause. Due to a communication misunderstanding, the KLM captain thought he had clearance for take-off another cause was dense fog, meaning the KLM flight crew was unable to see the Pan Am aircraft on the runway until immediately prior to the collision. The accident had a lasting influence on the industry, particularly in the area of communication. An increased emphasis was placed on using standardized phraseology in air traffic control (ATC) communication by both controllers and pilots alike, thereby reducing the chance for misunderstandings. As part of these changes, the word "take-off" was removed from general usage, and is only spoken by ATC when actually clearing an aircraft to take off Sebastien Freissinet. "The Tenerife crash-March 27th, 1977". Retrieved May 7, 2012.. The crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 on August 12, 1985 is the single-aircraft disaster with the highest number of fatalities: 520 died on board a Boeing 747. The aircraft suffered an explosive decompression from an incorrectly repaired aft pressure bulkhead, which failed in mid-flight, destroying most of its vertical stabilizer and severing all of the hydraulic lines, making the 747 virtually uncontrollable. Pilots were able to keep the plane flying for 20 minutes after departure before crashing into a mountain. Remarkably, several people survived, but by the time the Japanese rescue teams arrived at the crash site, all but four had succumbed to their injuries Kilroy. "Special Report: Japan Airlines Flight 123". Retrieved May 7, 2012. SAFETY The Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel. The Convention establishes rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety, and details the rights of the signatories in relation to air travel. The Convention also exempts commercial air fuels from tax. The document was signed on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, U.S., by 52 signatory states. It received the requisite 26th ratification on March 5, 1947 and went into effect on April 4, 1947, the same date that ICAO came into being. In October of the same year, ICAO became a specialized agency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The Convention has since been revised eight times (in 1959, 1963, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1997, 2000 and 2006) Convention on International Civil Aviation on www.icao.int. As of 2013, the Chicago Convention has 191 state parties, which includes all member states of the United Nations—except Dominica, Liechtenstein, and Tuvalu—plus the Cook Islands. Navigation systems provide worldwide network of radio beacons, distance-measuring equipment, and instrument landing systems at airports enables pilots to fly safely to their destinations. Air traffic controllers use radar to provide crucial advice to pilots before and during flight. Large aircraft carry sophisticated navigation equipment, and even light aircraft have some navigation aids. The latest global positioning system (GPS) and Glonass involves computer conversion of signals from a network of satellites, to provide the pilot with highly accurate information on aircraft position. Different authorities set and monitors civil aviation safety and security standards. In India it is the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is responsible for almost every aspect of civil aviation safety, like the licensing of pilots, aircraft maintenance personnel and airlines designation of space in which aircraft can fly regulation of flight and airport operations certification of airports and airfields, aircraft manufacturers, aviation organisations and airways services such as weather forecasters. Airport security refers to the techniques and methods used in protecting passengers, staff and aircraft which use the airports from accidental/malicious harm, crime and other threats. Large numbers of people pass through airports every day. This presents potential targets for terrorism and other forms of crime because of the number of people located in a particular location. Similarly, the high concentration of people on large airliners, the potential high death rate with attacks on aircraft, and the ability to use a hijacked airplane as a lethal weapon may provide an alluring target for terrorism, whether or not they succeed due their high profile nature following the various attacks and attempts around the globe in recent years Rimmer, David. "Does Heightened Airport Security Make Us Safer? Aviation.about.com, retrieved October 26, 2011.. Airport security attempts to prevent any threats or potentially dangerous situations from arising or entering the country. If airport security does succeed in this, then the chances of any dangerous situations, illegal items or threats entering into aircraft, country or airport are greatly reduced. As such, airport security serves several purposes: To protect the airport and country from any threatening events, to reassure the traveling public that they are safe and to protect the country and their people. While some countries may have an agency that protects all of their airports (such as Australia, where the Australian Federal Police responsible for security at their major airports), in other countries the protection is controlled at the state or local level. The primary security forces or checks vary from country to country but most of them include: A police force hired and dedicated to the airport A branch (substation) of the local police department stationed at the airport Members of the local police department assigned to the airport Members of a country's airport protection service Police dog services for explosive detection, drug detection and other purposes Paramilitary forces Military forces CONCLUSION From researching from different sources and reading different articles we can conclude that international flight accidents are inevitable in nature because most of the operations or procedures done to successfully conduct aviation include humans and humans are not error free, they can be easily distracted or induced to do wrong things. To minimize the risks of accidents operation part should be shifted towards machines and technology. To counter human errors in flights everything should be checked by humans and machines both, several checkpoints should be created for security. Every flight and its crew should be forced to undergo strict security procedures and those who are found guilty should be punished according to rules. To counter terrorist activities which result crash of airplane or grounding of it, some things should be allowed like Arming the pilots or crew of flights Checking every item of each passenger Source of food and other items present in airport terminal should be verified Dna profiling should be done and its data should be available at an international database We can’t stop flight accidents but we can reduce them by following above mentioned things to create a safer aviation culture for us and our future generations. WEBLIOGRAPHY www.about.com www.icao.int www.airsafe.com www.flyingmag.com verma|11