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December 2000
NTSB Report: Safety Study: Emergency Evacuation of Commercial Airplanes 108 pages. [PDF 1,527K]
This issue of Flight Safety Digest presents a report on the findings of a special study of emergency evacuations of commercial airplanes. The report is the result of a study by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of 46 emergency evacuations between September 1997 and June 1999 that involved 2,651 passengers and 18 different airplane types.
August–November 2000
Special Issue: ALAR (Approach-and-landing Accident Reduction) Briefing Notes 230 pages. [PDF 1.5M]
One of several products included in the FSF ALAR Tool Kit, these 34 briefing notes provide information and data-driven recommendations to help prevent approach-and-landing accidents, including those involving controlled flight into terrain. Each briefing note focuses on a specific topic identified during FSF ALAR Task Force analyses of accidents and incidents from 1980 through 1997, and audits of flight operations. Individual briefing notes in English, briefing notes in Spanish and Russian and other resource materials can also be downloaded.
May–July 2000
Special Issue: Controlled Flight Into Terrain, Korean Air Flight 801, Boeing 747-300, HL7468, Nimitz Hill, Guam, August 6, 1997 140 pages. [PDF 1,189K]
In fulfilling its mission to disseminate aviation safety information to a global audience, Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) usually publishes condensed versions of official accident reports in Accident Prevention. These easy-to-read articles aredesigned to provide readers with essential information that can help prevent other accidents. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) final report on the Korean Air Boeing 747 accident in Guam, however, is an exception to this policy; the comprehensive report has been published in its entirety in this issue of Flight Safety Digest.
April 2000
Passenger-mortality Risk Estimates Provide Perspectives About Airline Safety 28 pages. [PDF 204K]
Aviation accidents generate widespread news coverage, often citing statistics of various kinds that measure air carrier safety and estimate passenger-mortality risk. Another measure, discussed here, shows that a passenger who randomly flew on a U.S. domestic jet every day would go approximately 19,000 years before dying in a fatal accident. Nevertheless, the measure shows a higher mortality risk in some regions of the world for all air carriers that fly there.
March 2000
Pilots Attribute Australia’s Aviation Safety Record to Good Training, Favorable Weather, Low Traffic Density 32 pages. [PDF 203K]
The nation’s major air carriers have never had a fatal accident; nevertheless, flight crewmembers said that they are concerned about the risk of midair collisions, wind shear and microbursts.
February 2000
A Review of Transport Airplane Performance Requirements Might Benefit Safety 28 pages. [PDF 231K]
Most current performance requirements for the certification and operation of transport category airplanes were established at the beginning of the jet age. Today, operating experience and data provide the most accurate means to further improve the performance requirements of modern transport airplanes.
January 2000
Consensus on Need for FAA Guidance Helps Propel Era of Director of Safety 40 pages. [PDF 401K]
The role of director of safety — as an airline-management position that reports directly to the chief executive officer — has become an important element of safety oversight in U.S. commercial air transport. Regulators, airlines and pilots have divergent viewpoints about methods of compliance with the requirements of this position in U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations. During 1999, several organizations jointly made recommendations on qualifications, authority and duties, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued guidance material.
