How do you remember a bush pilot? Simple really, you hire an old plane and spread the ashes over the countryside he adored in a manner that he would’ve wanted. Ralph Green was a pilot from another era. He learnt to fly in a Tiger Moth at a time when flying was cheap and the […]
The US Naval Safety Center describes an accident as “a failure of an organization’s overall safety program” . The underlying premise of this definition is the hazards that caused an accident were not discovered in time – and therefore, there was a failure in the organisation for not trapping or preventing those hazards. Attempting to
The airline industry is highly capital intensive and this intensity is spread across all aspects of this vast sector. This includes the financial demands in having access to a reliable fleet of aircraft; the necessity to have experienced personnel operating and managing that fleet; the requirement in having access to specialised infrastructure at locations that
The downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 as it flew over eastern Ukraine in July 2014 was a tragic event that raised the public’s awareness of the many difficulties faced by aircraft accident investigators. This particular incident drew the focus on the political sensitivities, conflicting governmental responses and also the media’s desire (and need) for quick
The difficulties faced by accident investigators Read More »
Witnesses are one of the primary sources of evidence investigators can utilise when covering an accident. Information obtained from witnesses may provide key aspects such as: whether there was any damage to the aircraft prior to impact; any unusual noises or sounds; was there any sign of smoke or gas in the cabin beforehand and,
Scenario-based learning (SBL) is an immersive training environment where learners are presented with simulated work challenges – and then based on their choices and decisions, they receive realistic feedback as they progress (and traverse) through the course. Unlike many e-courses, where learners passively absorb information by reading a text and taking a test afterward, in
The scene of an accident involving a large passenger aircraft contains a body of evidence that can take a team of investigators to sift through. Such evidence may consist of damage to the aircraft, injuries to flight crew and passengers and data obtained from the aircraft’s flight recorders. However, there is also a diverse body
What evidence can be obtained away from an accident site? Read More »
It has been suggested that the Group System of aviation accident investigation is inflexible, costly and outdated. Critics claim that the system should be abandoned and instead, introduce a more streamlined approach that consists of a small group of multiskilled investigators who would investigate every accident. While this argument may at first appear economically sensible
Should we abandon the Group System when investigating aviation accidents? Read More »
The Australian Transport Safety Investigation (TSI) Act (2003) defines an accident site as: a site containing the transport vehicle or any of its wreckage; a site where there is an impact point associated with the accident; if the accident involved destruction or serious damage to property (other than the transport vehicle) – a site containing
Thunderstorms can cause major issues to aircraft movements and as a result, are a major concern for ATC operators. While ATC operators have access to weather-based radar technologies as well as current meteorological reports, the unstable nature of thunderstorms provide a challenging environment that presents a heavy impact on operations. Strong thunderstorms may include heavy