Discussion: Why Do We Investigate Aircraft Accidents? Peers Review 1

Provide a classmate review on their discussion topic :

esearch any current event (within the past 24 months) associated with an aircraft/Unmanned Aerial System incident, accident, and/or aviation safety study. Discuss the implications for industry, and/or the role of the investigative and regulatory bodies associated with these events. Be sure to differentiate the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies and apply NTSB terminology, as appropriate. 

 

 

Classmate post that you need to post comment/ review on:

For over 100 years, aviators have been navigating through the skies with a high level of success and safety. Nevertheless, regardless of airmanship, rulemaking, technology, etc., some accidents are just unavoidable. Or are they? A case in point that showcased this reality in aviation, was an accident in which two de Havilland aircraft collided in midair (United States. National Transportation Safety Board, 2021).

As described in the United States, National Transportation Safety Board, (2021), accident report, a de Havilland DHC-2 and a de Havilland DHC-3 collided in midair while both aircraft were being used as sightseeing flights. Both aircraft were operated by companies registered under provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135. The accident occurred as the aircraft failed to maintain the required distance during flight operations under visual flight rules in a congested airspace.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made the determination that the potential cause for the accident were limitations of the see-and-avoid concept. (United States. National Transportation Safety Board, 2021). Sadly, see-and-avoid collisions have occurred at an average rate of 15.6 per year from 1991 to 2000. In 77% of these collisions, it involved aircraft in arrivals, departures or flights over an airport phase of flight (Morris, 2005).

Additionally, the NTSB found two other probable contributing factors to this accident that were attributed to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA). Firstly, the use of transceivers that did not include alerting capabilities. And secondly, the lack of an airborne traffic advisory system that would provide aural alerting to aircraft operators that fall under Part 135 (United States. National Transportation Safety Board, 2021).