History

Main article: Aviation history

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.[1]

“ ”
  — Lord Kelvin, 1892
Many cultures have built devices that travel through the air, from the earliest projectiles such as stones and
spears, to more sophisticated buoyant or aerodynamic devices such as the mechanical pigeon of Archytas in
Ancient Greece[2][3], the boomerang in Australia, the hot air Kongming lantern, and kites. There are early legends
of human flight such as the story of Icarus, and later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance human
flights appear, such as the winged flights ofAbbas Ibn Firnas (810–887), Eilmer of Malmesbury (11th century),
and the hot-air Passarola of Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685-1724).

The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783,
in a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers. The practicality of balloons was limited because they
could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was
required.Jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel
in one in 1785.

In 1799 Sir George Cayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with
separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control.[4][5] Early dirigible developments included machine-powered
propulsion (Henri Giffard, 1852), rigid frames (David Schwarz, 1896), and improved speed and maneuverability
(Alberto Santos-Dumont, 1901)

First flight by the Wright Brothers, December 17, 1903

Hindenburg at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, 1936

While there are many competing claims for the earliest powered, heavier-than-air flight, the most widely-
accepted date is December 17, 1903 by the Wright brothers, who had solved the age old problem of controlling
a craft in flight. The widespread adoption of ailerons made aircraft much easier to manage, and only a decade
later, at the start ofWorld War I, heavier-than-air powered aircraft had become practical for reconnaissance,
artillery spotting, and even attacks against ground positions.

Aircraft began to transport people and cargo as designs grew larger and more reliable. In contrast to small non-
rigidblimps, giant rigid airships became the first aircraft to transport passengers and cargo over great distances.
The best known aircraft of this type were manufactured by the German Zeppelin company.

The most successful Zeppelin was the Graf Zeppelin. It flew over one million miles, including an around-the-
world flight in August 1929. However, the dominance of the Zeppelins over the airplanes of the that period,
which had a range of only a few hundred miles, was diminishing as airplane design advanced. The "Golden
Age" of the airships ended on May 6, 1937 when the Hindenburg caught fire killing 36 people. Although there
have been periodic initiatives to revive their use, airships have seen only niche application since that time.

Great progress was made in the field of aviation during the 1920s and 1930s, such as Charles
Lindbergh's transatlantic flight in 1927, and Charles Kingsford Smith's transpacific flight the following year.
One of the most successful designs of this period was the Douglas DC-3 which became the first airliner that was
profitable carrying passengers exclusively, starting the modern era of passenger airline service. By the
beginning of World War II, many towns and cities had built airports, and there were numerous qualified pilots
available. The war brought many innovations to aviation, including the first jet aircraft and the first liquid-
fueled rockets.

NASA's Helios researches solar powered flight.

After WW II, especially in North America, there was a boom in general aviation, both private and commercial,
as thousands of pilots were released from military service and many inexpensive war-surplus transport and
training aircraft became available. Manufacturers such as Cessna, Piper, andBeechcraft expanded production to
provide light aircraft for the new middle class market.

By the 1950s, the development of civil jets grew, beginning with the de Havilland Comet, though the first
widely-used passenger jet was the Boeing 707, because it was much more economical than other planes at the
time. At the same time, turboprop propulsion began to appear for smaller commuter planes, making it possible
to serve small-volume routes in a much wider range of weather conditions.
Yuri Gagarin was the first human to travel to space on April 12, 1961, while Neil Armstrong was the first to set
foot on the moon on July 21, 1969.

Since the 1960s, composite airframes and quieter, more efficient engines have become available, and
the Concorde provided supersonic passenger service for a time, but the most important lasting innovations have
taken place in instrumentation and control. The arrival of solid-state electronics, theGlobal Positioning
System, satellite communications, and increasingly small and powerful computers and LED displays, have
dramatically changed the cockpits of airliners and, increasingly, of smaller aircraft as well. Pilots can navigate
much more accurately and view terrain, obstructions, and other nearby aircraft on a map or throughsynthetic
vision, even at night or in low visibility.

On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded aircraft to make a spaceflight, opening the
possibility of an aviation market outside the Earth's atmosphere. Meanwhile, flying prototypes of aircraft
powered by alternative fuels, such as ethanol, electricity, and even solar energy, are becoming more common
and may soon enter the mainstream, at least for light aircraft.

[edit]Civil aviation
Main article: Civil aviation

Civil aviation includes all non-military flying, both general aviation and scheduled air transport.

[edit]Air transport
Main article: Airline

Northwest Airlines Airbus A330-300

There are five major manufacturers of civil transport aircraft (in alphabetical order):

 Airbus, based in Europe

 Boeing, based in the United States
 Bombardier, based in Canada
 Embraer, based in Brazil
 Tupolev, based in Russia (scheduled to be merged into the United Aircraft Building Corporation)

Boeing, Airbus, and Tupolev concentrate on wide-body and narrow-body jet airliners, while Bombardier and
Embraer concentrate on regional airliners. Large networks of specialized parts suppliers from around the world
support these manufacturers, who sometimes provide only the initial design and final assembly in their own
plants. The Chinese ACAC consortium will also soon enter the civil transport market with its ACAC
ARJ21 regional jet.[6]

Until the 1970s, most major airlines were flag carriers, sponsored by their governments and heavily protected
from competition. Since then, open skies agreements have resulted in increased competition and choice for
consumers, coupled with falling prices for airlines. The combination of high fuel prices, low fares, high salaries,
and crises such as the September 11, 2001 attacks and the SARS epidemic have driven many older airlines to
government-bailouts, bankruptcy or mergers. At the same time, low-cost carriers such
as Ryanair and Southwesthave flourished.

[edit]General aviation
Main article: General aviation

1947 Cessna 120

A weight-shift ultralight aircraft, the Air Creation Tanarg

General aviation includes all non-scheduled civil flying, both private and commercial. General aviation may
include business flights, air charter, private aviation, flight training, ballooning, parachuting, gliding, hang
gliding, aerial photography, foot-launched powered hang gliders, air ambulance, crop dusting, charter flights,
traffic reporting, police air patrols and forest fire fighting.

Each country regulates aviation differently, but general aviation usually falls under different regulations
depending on whether it is private or commercial and on the type of equipment involved.

Many small aircraft manufacturers, including Cessna, Piper, Diamond, Mooney, Cirrus Design, Raytheon and

others serve the general aviation market, with a focus on private aviation and flight training.

The most important recent developments for small aircraft (which form the bulk of the GA fleet) have been the
introduction of advanced avionics(including GPS) that were formerly found only in large airliners, and the
introduction of composite materials to make small aircraft lighter and faster.Ultralight and homebuilt
aircraft have also become increasingly popular for recreational use, since in most countries that allow private
aviation, they are much less expensive and less heavily regulated than certified aircraft.

[edit]Military aviation
Main article: Aerial warfare

Simple balloons were used as surveillance aircraft as early as the 18th century. Over the years, military
aircraft have been built to meet ever increasing capability requirements. Manufacturers of military aircraft
compete for contracts to supply their government's arsenal. Aircraft are selected based on factors like cost,
performance, and the speed of production.

The Lockheed SR-71 remains unsurpassed in many areas of performance.

[edit]Types of military aircraft

 Fighter aircraft's primary function is to destroy other aircraft. (e.g. Sopwith Camel, A6M Zero, F-
15, MiG-29, Su-27, F-22).
 Ground attack aircraft are used against tactical earth-bound targets. (e.g. Junkers Stuka diver
bomber, A-10 Warthog, Ilyushin Il-2, J-22 Orao, andSukhoi Su-25).
 Bombers are generally used against more strategic targets, such as factories and oil fields.
(e.g. Zeppelin, B-29 Superfortress, Tu-95, Dassault Mirage IV, and the B-52 Stratofortress)
 Cargo transport aircraft are used to transport hardware and personnel, such as the C-17 Globemaster
III or C-130 Hercules.
 Surveillance aircraft are used for reconnaissance (e.g. Rumpler Taube, de Havilland Mosquito, U-2,
and MiG-25R).
 Helicopters are used for assault support, cargo transport and close air support (e.g.AH-64,Mi-24).
[edit]Air Traffic Control (ATC)
Main article: Air traffic control
Air traffic control towers atSchiphol Airport, the Netherlands

Air traffic control (ATC) involves communication with aircraft to help maintain separation — that is, they
ensure that aircraft are sufficiently far enough apart horizontally or vertically for no risk of collision. Controllers
may co-ordinate position reports provided by pilots, or in high traffic areas (such as theUnited States) they may
use radar to see aircraft positions.

There are generally four different types of ATC:

 center controllers, who control aircraft en route between airports

 control towers (including tower, ground control, clearance delivery, and other services), which control
aircraft within a small distance (typically 10–15 km horizontal, and 1,000 m vertical) of an airport.
 oceanic controllers, who control aircraft over international waters between continents, generally
without radar service.
 terminal controllers, who control aircraft in a wider area (typically 50–80 km) around busy airports.

ATC is especially important for aircraft flying under Instrument flight rules (IFR), where they may be in
weather conditions that do not allow the pilots to see other aircraft. However, in very high-traffic areas,
especially near major airports, aircraft flying under Visual flight rules (VFR) are also required to follow
instructions from ATC.

In addition to separation from other aircraft, ATC may provide weather advisories, terrain separation, navigation
assistance, and other services to pilots, depending on their workload.

ATC do not control all flights. The majority of VFR flights in North America are not required to talk to ATC
(unless they are passing through a busy terminal area or using a major airport), and in many areas, such as
northern Canada and low altitude in northern Scotland, ATC services are not available even for IFR flights at
lower altitudes.

[edit]Environmental impact
Main article: Aviation and the environment

Like all activities involving combustion, operating powered aircraft (from airliners to hot air balloons)
releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), soot, and other pollutants into the atmosphere. In
addition, there are environmental impacts specific to aviation:

Water vapor contrails left by high-altitude jet airliners. These may contribute to cirrus cloud formation.

 Aircraft operating at high altitudes near the tropopause (mainly large jet airliners) emit aerosols and
leave contrails, both of which can increase cirrus cloud formation — cloud cover may have increased by up
to 0.2% since the birth of aviation.[7]
 Aircraft operating at high altitudes near the tropopause can also release chemicals that interact with
greenhouse gases at those altitudes, particularly nitrogen compounds, which interact with ozone, increasing
ozone concentrations.[8][9]
 Most light piston aircraft burn avgas, which contains tetra-ethyl lead (TEL), a highly-toxic substance
that can cause soil contamination at airports. Some lower-compression piston engines can operate on
unleaded mogas, and turbine engines and diesel engines — neither of which requires lead — are appearing
on some newer light aircraft.

Civil aviation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scheduled airline traffic in 2009

Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military aviation, both private and
commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) and work together to establish common standards and recommended practices for civil
aviation through that agency.

Civil aviation includes two major categories:

 Scheduled air transport, including all passenger and cargo flights operating on regularly-scheduled
routes; and
 General aviation (GA), including all other civil flights, private or commercial

Although scheduled air transport is the larger operation in terms of passenger numbers, GA is larger in the
number of flights (and flight hours, in the U.S.[1]) In the U.S., GA carries 166 million passengers each year,
[2] more than any individual airline, though less than all the airlines combined.

Some countries also make a regulatory distinction based on whether aircraft are flown for hire:

 Commercial aviation includes most or all flying done for hire, particularly scheduled service
on airlines; and
 Private aviation includes pilots flying for their own purposes (recreation, business meetings, etc.)
without receiving any kind of remuneration.

All scheduled air transport is commercial, but general aviation can be either commercial or private. Normally,
the pilot, aircraft, and operator must all be authorized to perform commercial operations through separate
commercial licensing, registration, and operation certificates.

[edit]Civil aviation authorities

The Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention) was originally established in 1944: it
states that signatories should collectively work to harmonize and standardize the use of airspace for safety,
efficiency and regularity of air transport.[3] All the States signatory to the Chicago Convention, now 188, are
obliged to implement the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) of the Convention.

Each signatory country has a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) (such as the FAA in the United States) to oversee
the following areas of civil aviation:

 Personnel Licensing — regulating the basic training and issuance of licenses and certificates.

 Flight Operations — carrying out safety oversight of commercial operators.

 Airworthiness — issuing certificates of registration and certificates of airworthiness to civil aircraft,

and overseeing the safety of maintenance organizations.

 Aerodromes — designing and constructing aerodrome facilities.

 Air Traffic Services — managing the traffic inside of a country's airspace.

STATISTICS
 

Causes of Fatal Accidents by Decade (percentage)

Cause 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s All

 Pilot Error 40 32 24 25 27 25 29

 Pilot Error  (weather related) 11 18 14 17 21 17 16

 Pilot Error (mechanical related) 7 5 4 2 4 3 4

 Total Pilot Error 58 57 42 44 53 45 50

 Other Human Error 0 8 9 6 8 9 7

 Weather 16 10 13 15 9 8 12

 Mechanical Failure 21 20 23 21 21 28 22

 Sabotage 5 5 11 13 10 9 9

 Other Cause 0 2 2 1 0 1 1

 The table above is compiled from the PlaneCrashInfo.com accident database and represents 1,300 fatal
accidents involving commercial aircraft, world-wide, from 1950 thru 2008 for which a specific cause is
known. Aircraft with 10 or less people aboard, military aircraft , private aircraft and helicopters are not
included.

 "Pilot error (weather related)" represents accidents in which pilot error was the cause but brought about by
weather related phenomena. "Pilot error (mechanical related)" represents accidents in which pilot error was
the cause but brought about by some type of mechanical failure. "Other human error" includes air traffic
controller errors, improper loading of aircraft, fuel contamination and improper maintenance procedures.
Sabotage includes explosive devices, shoot downs and hijackings. "Total pilot error" is the total of all three
types of pilot error (in yellow). Where there were multiple causes, the most prominent cause was used.
Source: PlaneCrashInfo.com database 


Accidents and Fatalities by Phase of Flight
  Source: Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents, Boeing




 Which type of flying is safer?

Type of Flight Fatalities per million flight hours

Airliner (Scheduled and nonscheduled Part 121) 4.03

Commuter Airline (Scheduled Part 135) 10.74

Commuter Plane (Nonscheduled Part 135 - Air taxi on demand) 12.24

General Aviation (Private Part 91) 22.43

 Sources: NTSB Accidents and Accident Rates by NTSB Classification 1998-2007

 Odds of being involved in a fatal accident

Odds of being on an airline flight which Odds of being killed on a single

results in at least one fatality airline flight

Top 25 airlines with the best records Top 25 airlines with the best records
 1 in 8.47 million   1 in 13.57 million 
 Bottom 25 with the worst records  Bottom 25 with the worst records 
 1 in 830,428  1 in 1.13 million

 Source: OAG Aviation & PlaneCrashInfo.com accident database, 1989 - 2008 


Survival rate of passengers on
aircraft involved in fatal accidents
carrying 10+ passengers

Decade % surviving

1930s 21

1940s 20

1950s 24

1960s 19

1970s 25

1980s 34

1990s 35

2000s 24


Survival rate of passengers
on aircraft ditching during 53%
controlled flight

 Source: PlaneCrashInfo.com accident database

  

  

Notable Accident Causes by Category

Air Traffic Control Error

09/03/1929 Mt. Taylor, New Mexico

06/13/1947 Leesburg, Virginia

11/11/1949 Arlington, Virginia

04/14/1958 Castel de Fels, Spain

07/21/1961 Shemya, Alaska

02/08/1965 New York, New York

03/05/1969 San Juan, Puerto Rico

01/14/1970 Mt. Pumacona, Peru

02/06/1970 Samarkand, USSR

12/20/1972 Chicago, Illinois

09/09/1976 Adler, Russia

09/10/1976 Gaj, Yugoslavia

08/11/1979 Dneprodzerzhinsk, USSR

04/19/1983 Keninakan, Russia

02/01/1991 Los Angeles, California

05/19/1993 Medellin, Colombia

11/07/1996 Lagos, Nigeria

09/26/1997 Buah Nabar, Indonesia

07/01/2002 Uberlinger, Germany

Bird Strike

10/04/1960 Boston, Massachusetts

11/23/1962 Ellicott, Maryland

09/15/1988 Bahar Dar, Ethiopia

04/18/1990 Off Panama

09/22/1995 Anchorage, Alaska

04/19/2000 Pepo, Congo

01/25/2007 Pau, France

01/15/2009 New York, New York

Cargo Hold / Cabin Fire

07/09/1945 Florence, South Carolina

06/17/1948 Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania

08/02/1949 Jaquirana, Brazil

01/09/1964 Zarate, Argentina

07/09/1964 Parrottsville, Tennesee

07/26/1969 Biskra, Algeria

08/14/1972 Konigs, East Germany

08/31/1972 Magnitogorsk, Russia

07/11/1973 Paris, Orly, France

11/03/1973 Boston, Massachusetts

11/26/1979 Ta'if, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

08/19/1980 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

12/24/1982 Guangzhou, China

06/02/1983 Covington, Kentucky

07/02/1986 Syktyvar, Russia

05/09/1987 Warsaw, Poland

11/28/1987 Mauritius, Indian Ocean

01/13/1990 Pervouralsk, Russia

07/12/1995 Gumey, New Guinea

05/11/1996 Everglades, Florida

09/02/1998 Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

05/07/2002 Off Dalian, China

Design Flaw

03/31/1933 Bazaar, Kansas

10/24/1947 Bryce Canyon, Utah

11/11/1947 Gallup, New Mexico

06/17/1948 Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania

08/29/1948 Winona, Minnesota

05/02/1953 Jalalogori, India

01/10/1954 Elba, Italy

04/08/1954 Off Stromboli, Italy

02/05/1955 Calabar, Nigeria

09/29/1959 Buffalo, Texas

03/17/1960 Tell City, Indiana

07/05/1970 Toronto, Canada

03/03/1974 Ermenonville, France

07/06/1982 Moscow, Russia

07/30/1992 New York, New York

04/06/1993 Over the Pacific Ocean

03/03/1991 Colorado Springs, Colorado

09/08/1994 Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

12/05/1997 Irkutsk, Russia

Sabotage / Explosive Device

03/28/1933 Dixmude, Belgium

10/10/1933 Chesterton, Indiana

05/07/1949 Sibuyan Sea, Philippines

09/09/1949 Sault-aux-Cochons, Canada

08/12/1952 Palmeria de Goias, Brazil

04/11/1955 Great Natuna Island, Sarawak

11/01/1955 Longmont, Colorado

07/25/1957 Daggett, California

04/17/1959 Puerto Kino,Mexico

09/08/1959 Poza Rica, Mexico

11/16/1959 Gulf of Mexico

01/06/1960 Bolivia, North Carolina

05/10/1961 In Amenas, Libya

05/22/1962 Unionville, Missouri

12/08/1964 Tripuani, Bolivia

07/08/1965 Dog Creek, British Columbia

11/22/1966 Aden, Yemen

02/09/1967 Mexico City, Mexico

10/12/1967 Rhodes, Greece

12/22/1969 Nha Trang, Vietnam

02/21/1970 Zurich, Switzerland

04/21/1970 Manila, Philippines

11/21/1971 Penhu Island, Taiwan

01/26/1972 Hermsdorf, Czechoslovakia

06/15/1972 Pleiku, Vietnam

03/19/1973 Ben Me Thout, South Vietnam

04/21/1973 Patabangan, Philippines

12/17/1973 Rome, Italy

09/08/1974 Ionian Sea, Greece

01/01/1976 Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia

10/06/1976 Bridgetown, Barbados

02/19/1979 Barentu, Ethiopia

06/27/1980 Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy

12/21/1980 Rio Hacha, Colombia

09/23/1983 Mina Jebel Ali, UAE

06/23/1985 Atlantic Ocean, Ireland

04/02/1986 Athens, Greece

05/03/1986 Colombo, Sri Lanka

11/29/1987 Andaman Sea

03/01/1988 Johannesberg, South Africa

08/17/1988 Bahawalpur, Pakistan

12/21/1988 Lockerbie, Scotland

09/19/1989 Bilma, Niger

11/27/1989 Bogota, Colombia

07/19/1994 Colon, Panama

12/11/1994 Pacific Ocean, Okinawa

07/09/1997 Suzano, Brazil

03/03/2001 Bangkok, Thailand

05/07/2002 Off Dalian, China

08/24/2004 Toula, Russia

08/24/2004 Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Fuel Starvation

05/18/1935 Knowles Flying Service

12/31/1935 Imperial Airways

05/06/1936 Macon, Missouri

01/14/1936 Goodwin, Arkansas

07/02/1937 Lae, New Guinea

11/28/1938 Off Point Reyes, Calif.

02/09/1943 Gander, Newfoundland

12/28/1946 Michigan City, Michigan

01/05/1947 Carmel, New Jersey

01/11/1947 Lympne, England

01/07/1948 Savannah, Georgia

01/30/1948 Near Bermuda

12/28/1948 San Juan, Puerto Rico

08/15/1949 Lurga Point, Ireland

07/28/1950 Porte Alegre, Brazil

04/30/1952 Delhi, India

05/26/1952 Atar, Mauritania

06/19/1954 Folkestone, England

12/22/1954 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

04/04/1967 Stockport, England

05/02/1970 St. Croix, Virgin Islands

12/05/1970 Delhi, India

02/01/1972 Tegal, Indonesia

07/24/1973 Honolulu, HI

08/11/1974 Ouagadougou, Upper Volta

10/20/1977 Gillsburg, Mississippi

12/02/1977 Al Bayda, Lebanon

12/28/1978 Portland, Oregon

09/04/1982 Rio Branco, Brazil

07/23/1983 Gimli, Manitoba, Canada

09/03/1989 Sao Jose do Xingu, Brazil

01/25/1990 Cove Neck, New York

09/11/1990 Off Newfoundland, Canada

06/26/1991 Sokotu, Nigeria

11/15/1993 Kerman, Iran

09/18/1994 Tamanrasset, Algeria

09/26/1994 Vanavera, Russia

09/11/1995 Jalalabad, Afghanistan

10/31/1995 Piedras Negras, Mexico

04/05/1996 Petropavlovsk, Russia

01/13/1998 Tor Kach, Pakistan

03/24/2000 Kadirana, Sri Lanka

06/11/2002 Winnipeg, Manitoba

11/11/2002 Manila, Philippines

08/13/2004 Cincinnati, Ohio

08/06/2005 Off Palermo, Italy

Hijacking (resulting in fatalities)

07/16/1948 Pacific Ocean

11/01/1958 Nipe Bay, Cuba

04/28/1960 Calabozo, Venezuela

1/23/1971 Korean Air Lines

12/06/1971 Tikaka, Sudan

05/18/1973 Chita, Russia

09/15/1974 Phan Rang, Vietnam

05/23/1976 Zamboanga, Philippines

06/27/1976 Entebbe, Uganda

12/04/1977 Kampung Ladang, Malaysia

06/14/1985 Athens, Greece

11/24/1985 Luqa, Malta

09/05/1986 Karachi, Pakistan

12/25/1986 Ay, Saudi Arabia

07/24/1987 Geneva, Switzerland

04/05/1988 Combi, Cyprus

10/02/1990 Guangzhou, China

08/28/1993 Khorag, Tajikistan

12/26/1994 Algiers, Algeria

11/23/1996 Moroni, Comoros Islands

07/23/1999 Tokyo, Japan

12/24/1999 Amritsar, India

05/25/2000 Manila, Philippines

03/15/2001 Medina, Saudi Arabia

09/11/2001 New York, New York

09/11/2001 New York, New York

09/11/2001 Arlington, Virginia

09/11/2001 Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Lightning

07/22/1938 Stulpica, Romania

08/31/1940 Lovettsville, Virginia

01/17/1951 Civitavecchia, Italy

06/26/1959 Varese, Italy

08/29/1960 Dakar, Senegal

07/19/1961 Azul, Brazil

12/19/1962 Warsaw, Poland

08/12/1963 Lyon, France

12/08/1963 Elkton, Maryland

12/24/1971 Puerto Inca, Peru

05/09/1976 Madrid, Spain

05/09/1980 Montelimar, France

 02/08/1988 Mulheim, Germany

06/22/2000 Shitai, China

Pilot Incapacitation

10/30/1959 Waynesborough, Virginia

12/14/1962 Burbank, California

10/06/1965 Centennial, Wyoming

04/22/1966 Ardmore, Oklahoma

03/13/1967 East London, South Africa

01/14/1970 Mt. Pumacona, Peru

06/18/1972 Staines, Surrey, England

10/13/1972 Krasnaya, Polyana, USSR

02/09/1982 Tokyo, Japan

03/31/1995 Balotesti, Romania

09/04/2000 Near Burketown, Australia

08/14/2005 Grammatikos, Greece

Pilots Shot by Passenger

05/07/1964 San Ramon, California

12/04/1977 Kampung Ladang, Malaysia

12/07/1987 San Luis Obispo, California

  
 Some Airlines with no Passenger
Fatalities* 
Aerorepublica Colombia (1992)
Air Anatolia (1996)
Air Austral (1990)
Air Baltic (1995)
Air Berlin (1991)
Air Comet (2006)
Air Do (1997)
Air Express Tanzania (2006)
Air Europa (1984)
Air Transport Europe (1991)
Air Jamaica (1966)
Air Macau (1994)
Air Malta (1973)
Air Mauritius (1967)
Air Namibia (1991)
Air Niugini (1973)
Air One (1995)
Air Seychelles (1985)
Air Transat (1986)
Airlink - Australia (1994)
Allegiant Air (1998)
AMC Airlines (1994)
America Trans Air (2005)
Arkia Israeli Airlines (1980)
ASCERA (1990)
Atlantic Airways (1987)
Aurigny Air Services (1968) 
Austrian Airlines (1957)
Awair International (2005)
Bahamasair (1973)
Blue Panorama (1998)
Britannia (1961)
Canadian North (1990)
Cayman Airways (1968)
Corsair Int. (1991)
Croatia Airlines (1990) 
Dragonair (1985)
EasyJet (1995)
Edelweiss Air (1995)
Emirates Airlines (1985)
Estonian Air (1991)
Eurocypria Airlines (1990)
Eurofly (1989)
Eurowings (1993)
EVA Air (1990)
Falcon Air Express (1995)
Frontier (1994)
Hainan Airlines (1989)
Hawaiian Airlines (1941)
Inter Air Airlines (1979)
Islandsflug (1991)
Japan TransOcean Air (1993)
Jet Airways (1992)
Jet Blue Airways (1999)
LTU International Airways (1955)
Macedonian - Greece (1992)
Macedonian - Macedonia (1994)
Maersk Air (1969)
Mahan Air (1991)
Malmo Aviation (2000)
Meridiana (1991)
Mesa Airlines (1980)
Monarch Airlines (1967)
Myanmar Airways Intl. (1993)
National Airlines (2008)
Nature Air (1991)
North American Airlines (1989)
Nouvelair Tunisie (1996)
Novair (1997)
Oman Air (1993)
Omni Air International (1997)
Onur Air (1992)
Pace Airlines (1995)
Pegasus Airlines (1990)
PLUNA (1936)
Portugalia Airlines (1997)
Qatar Airways (1993)
Royal Brunei Airlines (1974)
Ryanair (1985)
SATA International (1998)
Shaheen Air Int. (1993)
Shanghai Airlines (1985)
Sichuan Airlines (1990)
Skymark Airlines (1996)
Skyservice Airlines (1994)
Skyways Express (2000)
Southwest Airlines (1971)(z)
Spirit Airlines (1992)
Sun Country Airlines (1982)
Swiss International Air Lines (2002)
Syrianair (1977)
Titan Airways (1988)
Trans States Airlines (1989)
Transaero (1990)
TransAsia Airways(1992)
Transavia Airlines (1986)
Travel Service Airlines (1997)
Tunisair (1990)
Ukraine International (1992)
UNI Airways (1996)
Virgin Atlantic (1984)
WestJet Airlines (2002)

Institutions
[edit]United States
During the 1920s, the first laws were passed
in the USA to regulate civil aviation. Of
particular significance was the Air
Commerce Act 1926, which required pilots
and aircraft to be examined and licensed, for
accidents to be properly investigated, and for
the establishment of safety rules and
navigation aids, under the Aeronautics
Branch of the Department of Commerce.

Despite this, in 1926 and 1927 there were a

total of 24 fatal commercial airline crashes, a
further 16 in 1928, and 51 in 1929 (killing 61
people), which remains the worst year on
record at an accident rate of about 1 for every
1,000,000 miles (1,600,000 km) flown.
Based on the current numbers flying, this
would equate to 7,000 fatal incidents per
year.

The fatal incident rate has declined steadily

ever since, and, since 1997 the number of
fatal air accidents has been no more than 1
for every 2,000,000,000 person-miles flown
(e.g., 100 people flying a plane for
1,000 miles (1,600 km) counts as 100,000
person-miles, making it comparable with
methods of transportation with different
numbers of passengers, such as one person
driving a car for 100,000 miles (160,000 km),
which is also 100,000 person-miles), making
it one of the safest modes of transportation,
as measured by distance traveled.

A disproportionate number of all U.S. aircraft

crashes occur in Alaska, largely as a result of
severe weather conditions. Between 1990-
2006 there were 1441 commuter and air taxi
crashes in the U.S. of which 373 (26%) were
fatal, resulting in 1063 deaths (142
occupational pilot deaths). Alaska accounted
for 513 (36%) of the total U.S. crashes.[1]

Another aspect of safety is protection from

attack. The terrorist attacks of 2001 are not
counted as accidents. However, even if they
were counted as accidents they would have
added only about 2 deaths per 2,000,000,000
person-miles. Unfortunately, only 2 months
later, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed
in Queens, NY, killing 256 people, including
5 on the ground, causing 2001 to show a very
high fatality rate. Even so, the rate that year
including the attacks (estimated here to be
about 4 deaths per 1,000,000,000 person-
miles), is safe compared to some other forms
of transport, if measured by distance traveled.

Safety improvements have resulted from

improved aircraft design, engineering and
maintenance, the evolution of navigation
aids, and safety protocols and procedures.

It is often reported that air travel is the safest

in terms of deaths per passenger mile.
The National Transportation Safety
Board (2006) reports 1.3 deaths per hundred
million vehicle miles for travel by car, and
1.7 deaths per hundred million vehicle miles
for travel by air.[2] These are not passenger
miles. If an airplane has 100 passengers, then
the passenger miles are 100 times higher,
making the risk 100 times lower. The number
of deaths per passenger mile on commercial
airlines between 1995 and 2000 is about 3
deaths per 10 billion passenger miles.[3]

[edit]Navigation
aids and
instrument flight
One of the first navigation aids to be
introduced (in the USA in the late 1920s) was
airfield lighting to assist pilots to make
landings in poor weather or after dark.
The Precision Approach Path Indicator was
developed from this in the 1930s, indicating
to the pilot the angle of descent to the
airfield. This later became adopted
internationally through the standards of
theInternational Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO).

In 1929 Jimmy
Doolittle developed instrument flight.

With the spread of radio technology, several

experimental radio based navigation
aids were developed from the late 1920s
onwards. These were most successfully used
in conjunction withinstruments in
the cockpit in the form of Instrument landing
systems (ILS), first used by a scheduled
flight to make a landing in
a snowstorm at Pittsburgh in 1938. A form of
ILS was adopted by the ICAO for
international use in 1949.

Following the development of radar in World

War II, it was deployed as a landing aid for
civil aviation in the form of Ground-
controlled approach (GCA) systems, joined
in 1948 by distance measuring
equipment (DME), and in the 1950s
by airport surveillance radar as an aid to air
traffic control. VHF omnidirectional
range (VOR) became the predominate means
of route navigation during the 1960s
superseding the Non-directional
beacon (NDB). The ground based VOR
stations were often co-located with DME, so
that pilots could know both their radials in
degrees with respect to north to, and their
slant range distance to, that beacon.[4]

All of the ground-based navigation aids are

being supplemented by satellite-based aids
like Global Positioning System (GPS), which
make it possible for aircrews to know their
position with great precision anywhere in the
world. With the arrival of Wide Area
Augmentation System (WAAS), GPS
navigation has become accurate enough for
vertical (altitude) as well as horizontal use,
and is being used increasingly for trument
approaches as well as en-route navigation.
However, since the GPS constellation is
a single point of failure that can be switched
off by theU.S. military in time of crisis,
onboard Inertial Navigation System (INS) or
ground-based navigation aids are still
required for backup.
[edit]Air safety topics
[edit]Lightning

Boeing studies have shown that airliners are

struck by lightning on average of twice per
year. While the "flash and bang" is startling
to the passengers and crew, aircraft are able
to withstand normal lightning strikes.

The dangers of more powerful positive

lightning were not understood until the
destruction of a glider in 1999.[5] It has since
been suggested that positive lightning may
have caused the crash of Pan Am Flight
214 in 1963. At that time aircraft were not
designed to withstand such strikes, since their
existence was unknown at the time standards
were set.

The effects of normal lightning on traditional

metal-covered aircraft are well understood
and serious damage from a lightning strike on
an airplane is rare. However, as more and
more aircraft, like the upcoming Boeing 787,
whose whole exterior is made of non-
conducting composite materials take to the
skies, additional design effort and testing
must be made before certification authorities
will permit these aircraft in commercial
service.

[edit]Ice and snow

Snowy and icy conditions are frequent
contributors to airline accidents.
The December 8, 2005 accident
where Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 slid off
the end of the runway in heavy snow
conditions is just one of many examples. Just
as on a road, ice and snow buildup can make
braking and steering difficult or impossible.
The icing of wings is another problem and
measures have been developed to combat it.
Even a small amount of ice or
coarse frost can greatly decrease the ability of
a wing to develop lift. This could prevent an
aircraft from taking off. If ice builds up
during flight the result can be catastrophic as
evidenced by the crash of American
Eagle Flight 4184 (an ATR 72 aircraft)
nearRoselawn, Indiana on October 31, 1994,
killing 68, or Air Florida Flight 90.[6]

Airlines and airports ensure that aircraft are

properly de-iced before takeoff whenever the
weather threatens to create icing conditions.
Modern airliners are designed to prevent ice
buildup onwings, engines, and tails
(empennage) by either routing heated air
from jet engines through the leading edges of
the wing, tail, and inlets, or on slower
aircraft, by use of inflatable rubber "boots"
that expand and break off any accumulated
ice.

Finally, airline dispatch offices keep watch

on weather along the routes of their flights,
helping the pilots avoid the worst of inflight
icing conditions. Pilots can also be equipped
with an ice detector in order to leave icy
areas they have flown into.

[edit]Engine failure
Although aircraft are now designed to fly
even after the failure of one or more aircraft
engines, the failure of the second engine on
one side for example is obviously serious.
Losing all engine power is even more
serious, as illustrated by the
1970 Dominicana DC-9 air disaster,
when fuel contamination caused the failure of
both engines. To have an emergency
landing site is then very important.

In the 1983 Gimli Glider incident, an Air

Canada flight suffered fuel exhaustion
during cruise flight, forcing the pilot to glide
the plane to an emergency deadstick landing.
The automatic deployment of the ram air
turbine maintained the necessary hydraulic
pressure to the flight controls, so that the
pilot was able to land with only a minimal
amount of damage to the plane, and minor
(evacuation) injuries to a few passengers.

The ultimate form of engine failure, physical

separation, occurred in 1979 when a
complete engine detached from American
Airlines Flight 191, causing damage to the
aircraft and loss of control.

[edit]Metal fatigue
Metal fatigue has caused failure either of the
engine (for example in the January
8, 1989 Kegworth air disaster), or of the
aircraft body, for example the De Havilland
Comets in 1953 and 1954 and Aloha
Airlines Flight 243 in 1988. Now that the
subject is better understood, rigorous
inspection and nondestructive
testing procedures are in place.

[edit]Delamination

Composite materials consist of layers

of fibers embedded in a resin matrix. In some
cases, especially when subjected to cyclic
stress, the fibers may tear off the matrix, the
layers of the material then separate from each
other - a process called delamination, and
form a mica-like structure which then falls
apart. As the failure develops inside the
material, nothing is shown on the surface;
instrument methods (often ultrasound-based)
have to be used to detect such a material
failure..

Aircraft have developed delamination

problems, but most were discovered before
they caused a catastrophic failure.
Delamination risk is as old as composite
material. Even in the 1940s,
several Yakovlev Yak-9s experienced
delamination of plywood in their
construction.

[edit]Stalling

Stalling an aircraft (increasing the angle of

attack to a point at which the wings fail to
produce enough lift) is a danger, but is
normally recoverable. Devices have been
developed to warn the pilot as stall
approaches. These include stall warning
horns (now standard on virtually all powered
aircraft), stick shakers and voice warnings.
Two stall-related airline accidents
were British European Airways Flight 548 in
1972, and the United Airlines Flight
553 crash, while on approach to Chicago
Midway International Airport, also in 1972.

[edit]Fire

Safety regulations control aircraft materials

and the requirements for automated fire
safety systems. Usually these requirements
take the form of required tests. The tests
measureflammability and
the toxicity of smoke. When the tests fail,
they fail on a prototype in an engineering
laboratory, rather than in an aircraft.

Fire on board the aircraft, and more

especially the toxic smoke generated, have
been the cause of incidents. An electrical fire
on Air Canada Flight 797 in 1983 caused the
deaths of 23 of the 46 passengers, resulting in
the introduction of floor level lighting to
assist people to evacuate a smoke-filled
aircraft. Two years later a fire on the runway
caused the loss of 55 lives, 48 from the
effects of incapacitating and subsequently
lethal toxic gas and smoke, in the
1985 British Airtours Flight 28M. This
incident raised serious concerns relating to
survivability, something that prior to 1985
had not been studied in such detail. The swift
incursion of the fire into the fuselage and the
layout of the aircraft impaired passengers'
ability to evacuate, with areas such as the
forward galley area becoming a bottle-neck
for escaping passengers, with some dying
very close to the exits. A large amount of
research into evacuation and cabin and
seating layouts was carried at Cranfield
Institute to try to measure what makes a good
evacuation route which led to the seat layout
by Overwing exits being changed by mandate
and the examination of evacuation
requirements relating to the design of galley
areas. The use of smoke hoods or misting
systems were also examined although both
were rejected.

The cargo holds of most airliners are

equipped with "fire bottles" (essentially
remote-controlled fire extinguishers) to
combat a fire that might occur in with the
baggage and freight below the passenger
cabin. This was due to an accident in 1996. In
May of that year ValuJet Airlines Flight
592 crashed into the Florida Everglades a few
minutes after takeoff after a fire broke out in
the forward cargo hold. All 110 aboard were
killed.

At one time fire fighting foam paths were

laid down before an emergency landing, but
the practice was considered only marginally
effective, and concerns about the depletion of
fire fighting capability due to pre-foaming
led the United States FAA to withdraw its
recommendation in 1987.

[edit]Bird strike
Bird strike is an aviation term for a collision
between a bird and an aircraft. It is a
common threat to aircraft safety and has
caused a number of fatal accidents. In 1988
an Ethiopian AirlinesBoeing
737 sucked pigeons into both engines during
take-off and then crashed in an attempt to
return to the Bahir Dar airport; of the 104
people aboard, 35 died and 21 were injured.
In another incident in 1995, a Dassault
Falcon 20 crashed at a Paris airport during an
emergency landing attempt after
sucking lapwings into an engine, which
caused an engine failure and a fire in the
airplane fuselage; all 10 people on board
were killed.[7] A bird strike is suspected as
causing the engines to fail on US Airways
1549 that crash landed onto the Hudson
River.

Modern jet engines have the capability of

surviving an ingestion of a bird. Small fast
planes, such as military jet fighters, are at
higher risk than heavy multi-engine ones.
This is due to the fact that the fan of a high-
bypass turbofan engine, typical on transport
aircraft, acts as a centrifugal separator to
force ingested materials (birds, ice, etc.) to
the outside of the fan's disc. As a result, such
materials go through the relatively
unobstructed bypass duct, rather than through
the core of the engine, which contains the
smaller and more delicate compressor
blades.Military aircraft designed for high-
speed flight typically have pure turbojet, or
low-bypass turbofan engines, increasing the
risk that ingested materials will get into the
core of the engine to cause damage.

The highest risk of the bird strike is during

the takeoff and landing, in low altitudes,
which is in the vicinity of the airports. Some
airports use active countermeasures, ranging
from a person with a shotgun through
recorded sounds of predators to
employing falconers. Poisonous grass can be
planted that is not palatable to birds, nor to
insects that attract insectivorous birds.
Passive countermeasures involve sensible
land-use management, avoiding conditions
attracting flocks of birds to the area
(eg. landfills). Another tactic found effective
is to let the grass at the airfield grow taller
(approximately 12 inches (30 centimetres)) as
some species of birds won't land if they
cannot see one another.

[edit]Ground damage
Aircraft are occasionally damaged by ground
equipment at the airport. In the act of
servicing the aircraft between flights a great
deal of ground equipment must operate in
close proximity to the fuselage and wings.
Occasionally the aircraft gets bumped or
worse.

Damage may be in the form of simple

scratches in the paint or small dents in the
skin. However, because aircraft structures
(including the outer skin) play such a critical
role in the safe operation of a flight, all
damage is inspected, measured and possibly
tested to ensure that any damage is within
safe tolerances. A dent that may look no
worse than common "parking lot damage" to
an automobile can be serious enough to
ground an airplane until a repair can be made.

An example of the seriousness of this

problem was the December
26, 2005 depressurization incident on Alaska
Airlines flight 536. During ground services
a baggage handler hit the side of the aircraft
with a tug towing a train of baggage carts.
This damaged the metal skin of the aircraft.
This damage was not reported and the plane
departed. Climbing through
26,000 feet(7,925 metres) the damaged
section of the skin gave way due to the
growing difference in pressure between the
inside of the aircraft and the outside air.
The cabin depressurized with a bang,
frightening all aboard and necessitating a
rapid descent back to denser (breathable) air
and an emergency landing. Post landing
examination of the fuselage revealed a
12 in × 6 in (30 cm × 15 cm) hole between
the middle and forward cargo doors on the
right side of the airplane.[8]

The three pieces of ground equipment that

most frequently damage aircraft are
the passenger boarding bridge, catering
trucks, and cargo "beltloaders." However,
any other equipment found on an airport
ramp can damage an aircraft through careless
use, high winds, mechanical failure, and so
on.

The generic industry colloquial term for this

damage is "ramp rash", or "hangar rash".

[edit]Volcanic ash
Plumes of volcanic ash near
active volcanoes present a risk especially for
night flights. The ash is hard and abrasive
and can quickly cause significant wear on
the propellers andturbocompressor blades,
and scratch the cabin windows, impairing
visibility. It contaminates fuel and water
systems, can jam gears, and can cause a
flameout of the engines. Its particles have
low melting point, so they melt in
the combustion chamber and
the ceramic mass then sticks on the turbine
blades, fuel nozzles, and the combustors,
which can lead to a total engine failure. It can
get inside the cabin and contaminate
everything there, and can damage the
airplane electronics.[9]

There are many instances of damage to jet

aircraft from ash encounters. In one of them
in 1982, British Airways Flight 009 flew
through an ash cloud, lost all four engines,
and descended from 36,000 ft (11,000 m) to
only 12,000 ft (3,700 m) before the flight
crew managed to restart the engines. A
similar incident occurred on December 15,
1989 involving KLM Flight 867.

With the growing density of air traffic,

encounters like this are becoming more
common. In 1991 the aviation industry
decided to set up Volcanic Ash Advisory
Centers (VAACs), one for each of 9 regions
of the world, acting as liaisons
between meteorologists, volcanologists, and
the aviation industry.[10]

[edit]Human factors
See also: aviation medicine

NASA air safety experiment. The airplane is a

Boeing 720 testing a form of jet fuel containing
the additive FM-9, known as "Antimisting
Kerosene" (AMK), which formed a hard-to-ignite
gel when agitated violently, as in a
crash. See Controlled Impact Demonstration.

Human factors including pilot error are

another potential danger, and currently the
most common factor of aviation crashes.
Much progress in applying human factors to
improving aviation safety was made around
the time of World War II by people such
as Paul Fitts and Alphonse Chapanis.
However, there has been progress in safety
throughout the history of aviation, such as the
development of the pilot's checklist in 1937.
[11]
 Pilot error and improper communication
are often factors in the collision of aircraft.
This can take place in the air (1978 Pacific
Southwest Airlines Flight 182) (TCAS) or on
the ground (1977 Tenerife disaster) (RAAS).
The ability of the flight crew to
maintain situational awareness is a critical
human factor in air safety. Human factors
training is available to general aviation pilots
and called single pilot resource
management training.

Failure of the pilots to properly monitor the

flight instruments resulted in the crash
of Eastern Air Lines Flight 40 in 1972
(CFIT), and error during take-off and landing
can have catastrophic consequences, for
example cause the crash of Prinair Flight
191 on landing, also in 1972.

Rarely, flight crew members are arrested or

subject to disciplinary action for
being intoxicated on the job. In 1990,
three Northwest Airlines crew members were
sentenced to jail for flying from Fargo, North
Dakota to Minneapolis-Saint Paul
International Airport while drunk. In 2001,
Northwest fired a pilot who failed
a breathalyzer test after flying from San
Antonio, Texas to Minneapolis-Saint Paul. In
July 2002, two America West Airlines pilots
were arrested just before they were scheduled
to fly from Miami, Florida to Phoenix,
Arizona because they had been
drinking alcohol. The pilots have been fired
from America West and the FAA revoked
their pilot's licenses. As of 2005 they await
trial in a Florida court.[12] The incident
created a public relations problem and
America West has become the object of
many jokes about drunk pilots. At least one
fatal airliner accident involving drunk pilots
has occurred when Aero Flight 311 crashed
killing all 25 on board in 1961, which
underscores the role that poor human choices
can play in air accidents.

Human factors incidents are not limited to

errors by the pilots. The failure to close a
cargo door properly on Turkish
Airlines Flight 981 in 1974 resulted in the
loss of the aircraft - however the design of
the cargo door latch was also a major factor
in the incident. In the case of Japan
Airlines Flight 123, improper maintenance
resulted in the loss of the vertical stabilizer.

[edit]Controlled flight into terrain

Main article: Controlled flight into terrain

Controlled flight into terrain is a class of

accident in which an undamaged aircraft is
flown, under control, into terrain or man-
made structures. CFIT accidents typically are
a result of pilot error or of navigational
system error. Some pilots, convinced that
advanced electronic navigation systems such
as GPS and inertial guidance
systems (inertial navigation system or INS)
coupled with flight management
system computers , or over-reliance on them,
are partially responsible for these accidents,
have called CFIT accidents "computerized
flight into terrain". Failure to protect
Instrument Landing System critical areas can
also cause controlled flight into terrain. Crew
awareness and monitoring of navigational
systems can prevent or eliminate CFIT
accidents. Crew Resource Management is a
modern method now widely used to improve
the human factors of air safety. The Aviation
Safety Reporting System, or ASRS is
another.

Other technical aids can be used to help

pilots maintain situational awareness.
A ground proximity warning system is an on-
board system that will alert a pilot if the
aircraft is about to fly into the ground.
Also, air traffic controllers constantly
monitor flights from the ground and at
airports.

[edit]Terrorism
Main article: Terrorism

Terrorism can also be considered a human

factor. Crews are normally trained to
handle hijack situations. Prior to
the September 11, 2001 attacks, hijackings
involved hostage negotiations. After the
September 11, 2001 attacks, stricter airport
security measures are in place to prevent
terrorism using a Computer Assisted
Passenger Prescreening System, Air
Marshals, and precautionary policies. In
addition, counter-terrorist organizations
monitor potential terrorist activity.

Although most air crews are screened for

psychological fitness, some may take suicidal
actions. In the case of EgyptAir Flight 990, it
appears that the first officer (co-pilot)
deliberately dived his aircraft into
the Atlantic Ocean while the captain was
away from his station, in 1999 off Nantucket,
Massachusetts. Motivations are unclear, but
recorded inputs from the black boxes showed
no mechanical problem, no other aircraft in
the area, and was corroborated by the cockpit
voice recorder.

The use of certain electronic equipment is

partially or entirely prohibited as it may
interfere with aircraft operation, such as
causing compass deviations. Use of personal
electronic devices and calculators may be
prohibited when an aircraft is below 10,000',
taking off, or landing. The American Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)
prohibits the use of a cell phone on most
flights, because in-flight usage creates
problems with ground-based cells. There is
also concern about possible interference with
aircraft navigation systems, although that has
never been proven to be a non-serious risk on
airliners. A few flights now allow use of cell
phones, where the aircraft have been
specially wired and certified to meet both
FAA and FCC regulations.

[edit]Attack by Hostile Country

Aircraft, whether civilian passenger planes or

military aircraft, are sometimes attacked in
both peacetime and war. Notable examples of
this are:

 1 September 1983 downing by the

Soviet Union of Korean Air Lines Flight
007, carrying 269 people (including a
sitting U.S. Congressman Larry
McDonald),
 3 July 1988 shoot-down by United
States Navy of Iran Air Flight 655,
carrying 290 people.
 4 November 2001 shoot-down by
Ukranian Air Force of Russian flight
1812 (Tel-Aviv - Novosibirsk), carrying
78 people.
[edit]Airport design
Airport design and location can have a big
impact on air safety, especially since some
airports such as Chicago Midway
International Airport were originally built for
propeller planes and many airports are in
congested areas where it is difficult to meet
newer safety standards. For instance, the
FAA issued rules in 1999 calling for
a runway safety area, usually extending
500 feet (150 m) to each side and 1,000 feet
(300 m) beyond the end of a runway. This is
intended to cover ninety percent of the cases
of an aircraft leaving the runway by
providing a buffer space free of obstacles.
Since this is a recent rule, many airports do
not meet it. One method of substituting for
the 1,000 feet (300 m) at the end of a runway
for airports in congested areas is to install
an Engineered materials arrestor system, or
EMAS. These systems are usually made of a
lightweight, crushable concrete that absorbs
the energy of the aircraft to bring it to a rapid
stop. They have stopped three aircraft (as of
2005) at JFK Airport.

[edit]Infection

On an airplane, hundreds of people sit in a

confined space for extended periods of time,
which increases the risk of transmission of
airborne infections.[13][14] For this reason,
airlines place restrictions on the travel of
passengers with known airborne contagious
diseases (e.g. tuberculosis). During the severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic
of 2003, awareness of the possibility of
acquisition of infection on a commercial
aircraft reached its zenith when on one flight
from Hong Kong to Beijing, 16 of 120 people
on the flight developed proven SARS from a
single index case.[15]

There is very limited research done

on contagious diseases on aircraft. The two
most common respiratory pathogens to which
air passengers are exposed
are parainfluenza andinfluenza.[16] Certainly,
the flight ban imposed following the attacks
of September 11, 2001 restricted the ability
of influenza to spread around the globe,
resulting in a much milder influenza season
that year,[17] and the ability of influenza to
spread on aircraft has been well documented.
[13]
 There is no data on the relative
contributions of large droplets, small
particles, close contact, surface
contamination, and certainly no data on the
relative importance of any of these methods
of transmission for specific diseases, and
therefore very little information on how to
control the risk of infection. There is no
standardisation of air handling by aircraft,
installation of HEPA filters or of hand
washing by air crew, and no published
information on the relative efficacy of any of
these interventions in reducing the spread of
infection.[18]

[edit]Emergency airplane
evacuations
According to a 2000 report by the National
Transportation Safety Board, emergency
airplane evacuations happen about once
every 11 days in the U.S. While some
situations are extremely dire, such as when
the plane is on fire, in many cases the
greatest challenge for passengers can be the
use of the airplane slide. In a TIME article on
the subject, Amanda Ripley reported that
when a new supersized Airbus A380
underwent mandatory evacuation tests in
2006, 33 of the 873 evacuating volunteers got
hurt. While the evacuation was generally
considered a success, one volunteer suffered
a broken leg, while the remaining 32 received
slide burns. Such accidents are common. In
her article, Ripley provides tips on how to
make it down the airplane slide without
injury. [19]

[edit]Runway safety
Main article: Runway#Runway_safety

Several terms fall under the flight safety topic

of runway safety, including incursion,
excursion, and confusion.

Runway excursion is an incident involving

only a single aircraft, where it makes an
inappropriate exit from the runway. This can
happen because of pilot error, poor weather,
or a fault with the aircraft.[citation
needed]
 Overrun is a type of excursion where
the aircraft is unable to stop before the end of
the runway. A recent example of such an
event is Air France Flight 358 in 2005.
Further examples can be found in
the overruns category.

Runway event is another term for a runway

accident.[citation needed]

Runway incursion involves a first aircraft,

as well as a second aircraft, vehicle, or
person. It is defined by the U.S. FAA as:
"Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving
the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle
or person on the protected area of a surface
designated for the landing and take off of
aircraft."[20]

Runway confusion involves a single aircraft,

and is used to describe the error when the
aircraft makes "the unintentional use of the
wrong runway, or a taxiway, for landing or
take-off".[21]An example of a "Runway
confusion" incident can be Comair Flight
5191.

Runway excursion is the most frequent type

of landing accident, slightly ahead of runway
incursion.[22] For runway accidents recorded
between 1995 and 2007, 96% were of the
'excursion' type.[22]

The U.S. FAA publishes an lengthy annual

report on runway safety issues, available
from the FAA website here. New systems
designed to improve runway safety, such
as Airport Movement Area Safety
System (AMASS) and Runway Awareness
and Advisory System (RAAS), are discussed
in the report. AMASS prevented the serious
near-collision in the 2007 San Francisco
International Airport runway incursion.

[edit]Accidents and incidents

 List of airship accidents

 Lists of aviation accidents
 Aviation accidents and incidents
 Flight recorder, includes Flight data
recorder and Cockpit voice recorder
[edit]Statistics

There are three main statistics which may be

used to compare the safety of various forms
of travel:[23]

Deaths per billion journeys

Bus: 4.3

Rail: 20

Van: 20

Car: 40
Foot: 40

Water: 90

Air: 117

Bicycle: 170

Motorcycle: 1640

Deaths per billion hours

Bus: 11.1

Rail: 30

Air: 30.8

Water: 50

Van: 60

Car: 130

Foot: 220

Bicycle: 550

Motorcycle: 4840

 
 Deaths per billion kilometres

Air: 0.05

Bus: 0.4

Rail: 0.6

Van: 1.2

Water: 2.6

Car: 3.1

Bicycle: 44.6

Foot: 54.2

Motorcycle: 108.9

It is worth noting that the air industry's

insurers base their calculations on the
"number of deaths per journey" statistic while
the industry itself generally uses the "number
of deaths per kilometre" statistic in press
releases.[24]

01 01
04
1994-
19 07 04 -
95
1995-
24 08 04 02 01
96
1996-
18 02 02 02
97
         
1997-
11 2 3  
98
1998- 17 2 1 2
 99
1999-
20 20 5 2  
00
2000-
19 19 1 8  
01
2001-
13 12 3 2  
02
2002-
15 15 1 1  
03
 

Tot Recor Percen

Aircraft Type
al ded tage
31 163(1 52%
MiG-21
5 3)
    23  
MiG-23
(3)
MiG-25 04   02  
MiG-27     21  
07(   05  
MiG-29
1) (0)
23(   23  
Jaguar
1) (1)
Mirage 2000 03   03  

Our Thanks go to the following:

PUBLICATIONS

 History of the Indian Air Force

1933-47 , Ed by SN Gupta , pub  by
MoD India
 Commonwealth War Graves
Commission Web Site
at www.cwgc.org
 Final Landings by Colin Cummings
 The Price of Peace by Colin
Cummings
 Broken Wings by James J Halley,
pub by Air Britain Ltd
 Spitfire International by Helmut
Terbeck, pub by Air Britain Ltd
 The Battle Axes by Pushpindar
Singh, pub by Society for Aerospace
Studies
 Sir James Martin by Sarah Sharman

PEOPLE

 Paul McMillan
 Mike Bennett (Ejection-
History.org.uk)
 Philip Camp
 Simon Watson (The Aviation Book
Shop)
Read more in detail on the SOURCES