What are the Causes of
Aircraft Accidents? Why Plane Crash?
Aviation accidents can happen due to many reasons, Aviation accident may happen due to Pilot error, Air Traffic Controller error, Design and Manufacturer Defects, Maintenance Failures, Sabotage, or Bad Weather.
Why Planes Crash
Aviation Experts uses a
team of investigators and top experts to examine and analyze every aspect of an
aviation accident, including what occurred prior to the flight, what transpired
in the moments preceding the accident, and what occurred as the accident was
taking place, in order to determine why planes crash. To ensure that all
potential causes of the air crash are examined, investigators evaluate
corporate policies that may have had an impact on the actions of those
involved, listen to evidence preserved in the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and
flight data recorder (FDR), and examine the salvaged aircraft remains. After
the inquiry is finished, they pursue personal injury and wrongful death claims
using the proper culpability theories, such as airline, pilot, controller, or
product liability.
What Causes Planes to Crash?
Over the past decades, th
experience handling aviation accidents has provided aviation people with
comprehensive understanding of the many common reasons why planes crash.
Following are some of the
most fatal aviation accident happened due to different causes:
Human Factors in Aviation
According to Plane Crash reports,
between 1950 and 2010, 53 percent of fatal accidents involving commercial
aircraft occurred worldwide. While that figure may seem excessive, keep in mind
all the responsibilities that pilots have, including navigating through
hazardous weather, handling mechanical problems, and performing secure takeoffs
and landings. When pilots misinterpret or underestimate flight equipment,
weather circumstances, or mechanical issues, they frequently result in aviation
accidents. Considered to be the main factor in crashes, pilot mistake.
Crew Member Mistakes
A plane crash can result
from mistakes made by the crew as well as pilot error, making human error just
one of several potential contributing factors. Even though a crash might not
occur, staff members who neglect to properly store luggage or carry out their
tasks on board could cause serious injuries to the passengers.
The Tenerife airport
catastrophe, which happened on March 27, 1977, remains the accident with the
largest number of airliner passenger fatalities and is an illustration of how
human error contributes to why planes fall. At Los Rodeos Airport on the Canary
Island of Tenerife, Spain, a KLM Boeing 747 attempted to take off without
flying permission and crashed with a taxiing Pan Am 747, killing 583 people.
Only 61 of the 396 passengers and crew aboard the Pan Am plane and all 234
aboard the KLM aircraft survived. The main reason was pilot error because the
KLM captain started his takeoff run before getting clearance from air traffic
control.
Other contributory
reasons included dense fog and a terrorist attack at Gran Canaria Airport that
resulted in numerous planes being diverted to Los Rodeos, a smaller airport
that was ill-prepared to handle large aircraft. The Pan Am plane was not
visible to the KLM flight crew until just before the accident. Particularly in
the domain of communication, the catastrophe left a long-lasting impression on
the industry. Both controllers and pilots alike put more of a focus on utilizing
standardized language while communicating with air traffic control (ATC).
Additionally, "Cockpit Resource Management" has been introduced into
training for flight crew. The joint crew involvement is welcomed throughout
aeroplane operations, and the captain is no longer seen as infallible.
In mid-flight over
Charkhi Dadri, India, on November 12, 1996, Saudi Flight 763 and Kazakhstan
Airlines Flight 1907 collided. The Kazakh pilot was mostly to blame for the
incident since he was flying below the allowed clearance height. The 2
aircraft's 349 occupants, both passengers and crew, perished. It is still the
deadliest mid-air collision ever recorded. To prevent aeroplane from flying in
different directions at the same altitude, the Ramesh Chandra Lahoti
Commission, which was appointed to investigate the causes, suggested
establishing the "semi-circular rule". Setting a global standard for
the deployment of TCAS, the Indian Civil Aviation Authorities made it necessary
for every aircraft travelling into and out of India to be fitted with a Traffic
Collision Avoidance System (TCAS).
American Airlines Flight
965, December 20, 1995
This nighttime aircraft
from Miami, Florida crashed into the peak of an Andean mountain at a height of
around 8,900 feet, just 40 miles from its intended destination in Cali,
Colombia, killing all but four of the 163 person (Passenger plus Crew) on
board. The two pilots of the flight made a number of operational mistakes,
according to the investigators. The main error they made involved incorrectly
entering heading instructions into an automatic flight management system, which
led to the jet entering an unfamiliar and risky landing approach. The
investigation also discovered that the ground proximity warning system on the
757 was insufficient. The inquiry report raised the possible overreliance of
pilots on automated flight systems, which prompted the NTSB to give broad
recommendations to remedy the issue. In order to create redundancy in this
area, the FAA mandated that the majority of passenger aircraft registered in
the United States employ an Early Ground Proximity Warning System. The input
codes for all electronic navigational systems around the world were also
instructed to be standardized.
Aircraft Maintenance Negligence
Cutting shortcuts and
outsourcing aircraft maintenance and inspections is a major trend in the
aviation sector. Airlines now frequently perform the bare minimum to keep
planes in the air, which is directly related to the reasons why flights crash.
With 520 persons killed
on board a Boeing 747, the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 on August 12,
1985, is the single-aircraft tragedy with the highest death toll. An
incorrectly repaired aft pressure bulkhead that ruptured mid-flight caused an
explosive decompression that nearly rendered the 747 uncontrollable by severing
all of its hydraulic cables and much of its vertical stabilizer. After the
technical failure, the pilots were able to maintain the aircraft in the air for
32 minutes before it crashed into a mountain. 505 out of the 509 passengers on
board as well as all 15 crew members perished.
During a helicopter
flyover of the crash site, Japanese military officers incorrectly believed
there were no survivors. Rescue efforts weren't started until the morning. A
number of passengers survived the impact and almost certainly would have
survived the tragedy had rescue operations not been delayed, according to
medical professionals involved in the rescue and analysis activities. Four
passengers were still alive when they were released from the hospital, showing
they completely survived the incident.
Aircraft Design and Manufacturing Defects
Inadequate aeroplane
designs should result in design engineers being held accountable.
Lion Air Flight 610, a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to Pangkal Pinang's Depati Amir Airport, was involved in a recent aircraft accident as a result of poor design. All 189 passengers and crew perished on October 29, 2018, when the Boeing 737 MAX that was flying the route crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff. The new Boeing 737 MAX series of aircraft was introduced in 2017, and this accident was the first significant one involving them. It also had the highest death toll of any accident or incident involving any of the Boeing 737 models—Original, Classic, Next Generation, or MAX—beating out Air India Express Flight 812 in 2010. It was also the second deadliest aircraft accident in Indonesia after Garuda Indonesia Flight 152. It surpassed the 2004 Lion Air Flight 538 tragedy, which claimed 25 lives, as the deadliest incident in Lion Air history.
Soon after, the search
and rescue efforts of the Indonesian government located debris and human
remains from a 280 km (150 nmi) wide area. Two days after the collision, the
first victim was located. On November 1, the flight data recorder was
discovered and collected for examination. During recovery efforts, one member
of the volunteer rescue squad passed away.
The MAX series'
Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) was found to have a
design flaw that caused serious flight control issues that traumatized passengers and crew on the aircraft's previous flight as well as indications of
failures of an angle of attack (AOA) sensor and other instruments on that and
previous flights. In order to prevent the MCAS from causing similar issues, the
US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing sent alerts and training
recommendations to all MAX series operators. However, these recommendations
were not fully followed, and the design flaws were thought to have contributed
to the accident of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019, leading to
the global grounding of all MAX planes.
Weather
People frequently come to
the conclusion that weather is a significant factor in why planes crash.
Although it has been calculated that weather plays a role in 13% of all
aviation crashes, weather is rarely the only factor at play. If there are
hazardous weather conditions, most flights are grounded, and failing to do so
could be considered negligent. Pilots and crew should be able to function well
in emergencies even when poor weather sneaks up on pilots and air traffic
controllers.
Sabotage
Approximately 9% of all
aviation crashes are the result of sabotage. The hijackings on September 11,
2001, the crashes of Germanwings flight 9525 and Egypt Air flight 990 are
undoubtedly some of the most well-known sabotage crashes in recent memory.
In terms of casualties on
both the ground and in aeroplanes, the September 11, 2001, attack on the World
Trade Center in New York City was the deadliest sabotage-related aviation
tragedy. Four commercial jet aircraft were kidnapped after takeoff on that
morning's transcontinental flights from East Coast airports to California. As
part of a planned suicide plot by 19 Islamic terrorists connected to Al-Qaeda
against significant American landmarks, the four hijacked aircraft were later
destroyed. In less than two hours, the World Trade Center's North and South
Towers were both destroyed when American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines
Flight 175 deliberately crashed into them.
The two towers' occupants
or emergency responders made up the vast majority of the 2,753 fatalities from
the World Trade Center crashes. Additionally, American Airlines Flight 77's hit
with the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, which resulted in serious damage and
partial destruction to the structure's west side, caused 184 deaths. All 40
occupants of United Airlines Flight 93 were killed when the plane crashed into
a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, when passengers were attempting to
regain control of the aircraft from the hijackers.
This increased the number
of deaths caused by the September 11 attacks to 2,996 overall (including the 19
terrorist hijackers). The 9/11 crashes were not categorized as accidents but as
premeditated terrorist attacks that killed many people. The United States and
the NATO members regarded the incidents as acts of war and terrorism. In
response to the assaults, the United States and NATO later declared war on
terror.
On June 23, 1985, an explosion
in the cargo hold of Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747-237B travelling from
Toronto and Montreal to London and Delhi, caused the plane to crash off the
southwest coast of Ireland. 22 crew members and all 307 passengers perished. A
single traveler checked in as "M. Singh." Singh didn't get on the
plane. But the bomb was loaded onto the plane in his bag. M. Singh was never
located or apprehended. It was eventually discovered that Sikh radicals were
responsible for the blast as payback for the Indian government attacking the
Golden Temple in Amritsar, which is particularly significant to the Sikh
community. This was the deadliest terrorist act involving an aircraft at the
time.
Airline Corporate Negligence
The corporate airline
sector prioritises efficiency, quick turnaround, and cost-cutting over public
safety. Corporate rules pressure pilots and crew to fly with the least amount
of fuel possible, make unsafe landings to minimize paperwork, and take other
risky decisions. Uncaring businesses have recently taken a significant role in
the causes of aviation crashes. We think there needs to be an instant change in
the corporate culture and airline practices that are to blame for these
tragedies.
Air Traffic Controller Negligence
Numerous runway accident
cases and midair collisions, including one at Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX) in which a federal air traffic controller’s negligence resulted in a US
Airways plane landing on a SkyWest plane in 1991. In this collision 35 people
died and 29 were injured. This case was an example of how even the briefest
moment of inattention from someone involved, even remotely, in a plane’s
operation can lead to tragedy.
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