Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine August 2017 - 6

Enhancement of Safety Measures to Prevent Air Accidents

CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS

Intense study and analysis of the reports submitted by the relevant
authorities following the inquiries conducted after airplane accidents revealed that the causes of accidents are due to any one or
more than one of the reasons appended below:
C

Aircraft/Airplane Failures. Aircraft or airplane failure can
be divided into following categories:
Airframe Failure.
Error in Design.

Engines Failure.
Flight Surfaces Failures.
C

Instrument Failures.
Pressurization Failure.

Maintenance and Upkeep. Maintenance and upkeep failures include accidents caused by failure to maintain aircraft
as per standard operating procedures and at regular specified intervals, as well as incorrectly installing parts on the
aircraft.
As a Result of Some Uncontrollable Consequences. Uncontrollable consequences of actions could be the cause
of accidents that occur as a result of emergency landing,
crashing out of control, controlled flight into terrain, and
others.
Security Related. Security related failures that cause accidents include accidents due to sabotage, shooting down,
hijack, etc. [7], [10].
Weather. Weather is one of the main contributors to accidents. Accidents caused by icing, thunderstorms, lightening
strike, and wind shear fall into this category.

Systems Failure.

EN-ROUTE PHASE ACCIDENTS

Undercarriage malfunction/Failure.
C

ATC and Navigational Failures. These failures can be further divided into the following categories:
Communication/Language Problems.
Pilot operating according to visual flight rules in conditions that warrant instrument meteorological condition.
Condition.)
Misinterpreted or wrong information exchanged.

Cargo Handling. Cargo handling problems are usually either overloading of the airplane or the wrong placement of
cargo in the plane resulting in a wrong center of gravity.
Collisions. Collisions include aircraft colliding in midair or
on the ground, and collisions between aircraft and birds or
other objects.
Flight Crew Failures. Flight crew failures include those
caused by fatigue, insufficient rest, nonadherence to standard operating procedures [3], alcohol/drug usage, mental
condition [8], [9], and others.
Fire. Accidents caused by fire can occur in the hangar or on
the ground or during the flight fire itself.
Other External Factors. Other external factors can be foreign object damage, wake vortex turbulence, and other unknown reasons.
Landing/Take Off. During landing or takeoff, accidents can
occur for many reasons, some are listed below:
over speeding/fast movement,
heavy landing,
locked rudders/ailerons/gust locks,
incorrect take off configuration (trim/flaps).

Our detailed study of the causes of accidents indicate that for the
most common causes of accidents in the en-route phase of the
flight include: airplane failures, navigational failures, midair
collision, flight crew failures, in-flight fire, weather, and security failures. Crashes into mountains like the Germanwings
plane crash into the Alps in 2015 [8] and buildings hit by hijackers such as the crashes into the World Trade Center on 11
September, 2001 killing about 2,996 people by Al Qaida terrorists also form part of en-route phase accidents.2 In almost all of
these incidences, the aircraft had stopped following its intended
flight plan/path. Detecting as early as possible that an aircraft
has stopped following its planned track and initiating measures
on ground and onboard to get the aircraft back on its intended
track/flight path or activating some other measures so that the
aircraft may be safely landed ashore with nil or minimum possible damage is very important to preventing aircraft accidents,
particularly those caused by human actions.

COMMUNICATION FACILITIES
Generally, in aviation a digital data link called the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) is used for transmission of short messages between aircraft and ground stations via an

On 11 September, 2001, Al Qaeda Terrorists hijacked four
flights in the United States of America, namely American
Airlines Flight 11, American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flight 175, and United Airlines Flight 93. Flight 11 and
175 were crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade
Center, whereas Flight 77 was crashed into the Pentagon,
and the fourth, Flight 93, into a field in Pennsylvania. These
crashes into the World Trade Center Towers lead to the crashing down of the Towers and the killing of about 2,996 and
injuring over 6,000 people.

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

AUGUST 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine August 2017