Aviation accidents and incidents

One accident is an unexpected occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which can lead to injuries or property damage. The exact legal definition is the section Legal definition.

  • 3.1 Background
  • 3.2 process
  • 3.3 Aircraft Accident Investigation Authorities 3.3.1 Germany
  • 3.3.2 Austria
  • 3.3.3 Switzerland
  • 3.3.4 More

Types of aircraft accidents

  • Crash: A ( for example, due to severe damage) no longer controllable aircraft bounced on the ground
  • CFIT (English: Controlled Flight Into Terrain): A fully controllable aircraft collided with the ground, for example due to a navigational error
  • Collision: Two planes collide in the air, or a bird collides with the plane ( bird strike )
  • Takeoff or landing accident: At startup or when landing the aircraft from the airstrip comes from, missed this or is too hard on. About 20 % of accidents happen at the start, about 50 % of landings.
  • Collision on the ground: Two planes collide at an airport during takeoff, landing or taxiing. This type of accident is very rare, but was particularly known for the plane crash of Tenerife.

Legal definition

The internationally agreed and binding definitions of ICAO Annex 13 ( Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) have been ( EU) 996/2010 adopted on 2 December 2010 as a binding for the EU regulation Regulation of 20 October 2010 and almost identical in the Federal Republic Germany and incorporated in Austria.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the legal definitions in law on the investigation of accidents and incidents in the operation of civil aircraft, FlUUG § 2 and in the appendix are examples of serious incidents Template: § § / Maintenance / juris - side include.

Aircraft Accident

An accident within the meaning of § 2 FlUUG is an event in the operation of an aircraft which takes person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until the moment at which such persons have disembarked, if this:

  • On board an aircraft or
  • Even if this part has detached from the aircraft by direct contact with the aircraft or any of its parts, or
  • By the direct action of the turbine or propeller jet of an aircraft,
  • By the structural strength of the airframe, aircraft performance or flight characteristics are affected and
  • Repairing this damage would usually require a major repair or replacement of the affected aircraft component;

Serious injuries are those sustained by a person in an accident and which:

As such fatal injury are counted when the death of a participant occurs as a consequence of the accident within 30 days after the accident.

Disorder

From aircraft accidents disorders are distinguished:

  • A disturbance in this context is an event other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft and the safe operation affects or could affect.
  • A serious fault is in event in the operation of an aircraft, involving circumstances indicating that an accident nearly occurred.

The incidents listed below are typical examples of serious incidents. However, the list is not exhaustive and only serves as a guideline for the definition of "serious disturbances ".

  • Near collision / encounter dangerous: dangerous approach of two aircraft in the at least one aircraft was operated under instrument flight rules and evasive action was required or would have been appropriate to avoid a collision or an unsafe situation;
  • Only marginally avoided, unintentional contact with the ground ( CFIT ) with a non- runaway aircraft;
  • Aborted take-off on a closed or engaged runway or off from such runway with marginal separation from obstacle;
  • Landings or attempted landings on a closed or engaged runway;
  • Gross failures to achieve predicted performance during take -off or initial climb;
  • Fires and smoke in the passenger compartment, in cargo compartments or engine fires, even though such fires were extinguished by the use of extinguishing agents;
  • Circumstances which forced the flight crew use of oxygen;
  • Structural failure of the airframe or engine disassembly that are not classified as an accident;
  • Multiple malfunctions of one or more aircraft systems, whereby the operation of the aircraft was seriously impaired;
  • Any failure of flight crew members during flight;
  • Any lack of fuel, in which the pilots had to declare an emergency;
  • Take-off or landing; Incidents such as early or too late, overrunning or running off the side of the take off or landing strip;
  • System failures, weather phenomena, operation outside the approved flight envelope or other occurrences, the difficulty in controlling the aircraft could have caused
  • Failure of more than one system in a redundancy system mandatory for flight guidance and navigation.

Accident investigation

An accident investigation is a process in which is reconstructed, what was the cause of an accident ( such as a crash or a collision on the taxiway ).

On a flight accident basically two parallel investigations to be carried out will take place:

Background

Originally, the investigations were carried out by law enforcement agencies. The law enforcement agencies have excluded the stakeholders (producers, government agencies, etc.) by the investigations. Therefore, the ICAO has included this with the article 26 of the Chicago Convention of 1944. The Article 26 requires each State in whose territory a flight accident occurred, to conduct an investigation. Those are countries in which the affected aircraft designed, built, licensed or registered, may participate in the investigation. The sole purpose of these investigations is the prevention of aircraft accidents and therefore the improvement of aviation safety. Details on the conduct of such an investigation are set out in Annex 13 of the Agreement.

Initially, the aircraft accident investigations were often carried out by the supervisory authority. However, since a supervisor may be involved by adopting improper rules or by failing in its obligations to the cause of an air accident, here is a separation of powers makes sense. ICAO has therefore recommended in the 1950s that aviation accidents are investigated by independent bodies.

In Germany, the separation of powers on 1 September 1998 was performed.

In order to implement the European Directive into German law, the law on the investigation of accidents and incidents in the operation of civil aircraft ( Aircraft Accident Investigation Law - FlUUG ) was created on 26 August 1998, entered into force on 1 September 1998. The previous General Administrative Regulation for the technical investigation of aircraft accidents in the operation of aircraft has been replaced by this Act.

Process

Rough summary of how the example of a collision between two aircraft at an airstrip:

  • A Boeing 737 comes in Dusseldorf on Runway 23L with an Airbus A320.
  • After the rescue, a team of experts to the scene ( Runway 23L ) will be sent.
  • The accident is measured, photographed and documented.
  • The flight recorders (called black boxes ) were taken ( flight data recorder and voice recorder ) from both aircraft.
  • In the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation, the black boxes are evaluated.

The experts responsible for the criminal investigating authority issue an opinion, which enlightens the cause of the accident. The criminal investigating authority checks based on the findings, whether a reasonable suspicion exists and raises necessary against / the accused,. The report is not freely accessible to the public.

The Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation created an investigative report, which describes the cause of the accident and publish on your website. This research report is accessible after completion of the internet for all.

Air accident investigators

Germany

The Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation was built after FlUUG § 4 as the responsible German authority. The purpose of the investigation is to elucidate the causes by FlUUG § 3, if possible, to prevent with the aim of future accidents and incidents and the investigations are not the finding of fault, liability or claims.

The prosecuting authority ( prosecutor / police) determined parallel to the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, but no investigative body. They commissioned necessary aviation experts to check whether a reasonable suspicion exists.

Accidents are touching the predominantly military matters investigated by the General Aviation Safety in the Armed Forces of the Air Force Office, located in the Air Force barracks delusion.

Austria

The in the Federal be moved for Transport Department VERSA ( road safety work for Austria ) according to the Federal Law on the independent safety investigation of accidents and incidents - responsible § 2 for the recording and investigation of incidents and accidents in the Austrian Air (the Accident Investigation Act UUG 2005).

Switzerland

The based at Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications Swiss Accident Investigation Board ( SUST ), headquartered in Payerne is under the Regulation on the investigation of aircraft accidents and serious incidents ( VFU ) Template: § § / Maintenance / ch for the investigation of accidents and dangerous occurrences in charge of trains, airplanes and ships.

More

Effects

In addition to the deterioration of air traffic to aircraft accidents have a direct impact on the airlines. So already had a number of companies sign up by high -pecuniary payments insolvency when a fault has been detected, and often also suffers from the reputation of the company. Examples: British Airtours (1985 ), Adam Air (2008) and Pan Am (1991). Aircraft accidents can even cause the operation of an aircraft type, either temporarily or completely, such as the DC-10 as a result of the accident of American Airlines flight 191 from 1979 and the Concorde as a result of the Air France accident in 2000.

Accidents and incidents in aviation Tenerife airport disaster International Civil Aviation Organization Boarding (transport) Propeller (aeronautics) Clinker (boat building) Nose Bleeding Conflagration Mid-air collision BBC Integrated Authority File
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