Birgenair Flight ALW-301

One of the most controversial and important air crash linked to human error of the modern world happened on the night of February 12, 2009. Colgan air flight 3407, operated by Continental Connection, was on final approach to runway 23 at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport as it disappeared from radar. The aircraft was a Bombardier Dash 8, a popular twin engine medium range turboprop Airliner used by many regional carriers. The aircraft entered an uncontrollable stall crashing into to a neighborhood 5 miles northeast of the airport killing all everyone on souls on board. The Captain, Marvin Resnlow and first officer Rebecca Lynne were behind the controls the night of the accident. The NTSB report determined error by both pilots cause the aircraft to crash. Thus, pilot fatigues, improper recovery form a stall were contributing factors. The victim’s family members pushed for congress to overhaul airline regulations. The NTBS investigation delivery multiple findings that eventually led to a modernization of airline operations and pilot training.

The crew members of Qantas displayed excellent skills in managing the incident and the high standards of piloting culture saved QF32 from a catastrophic crash which enabled Qantas to keep up the brand name and protect its values of ‘safety of customers’. The management decided to ground the fleet of A380s for further inspection after the incident.

On this case it will be discussed the aircraft accident of American Airlines Flight 587. The aircraft involved was an Airbus 300-605R with a registration N14053 that occurred on November 12, 2001 in Belle Harbor, New York claimed the lives of 265 people, which consisted of all the members on board, the flight crew and 5 members in the ground. The aircraft was scheduled to depart from John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York to Las Americas International Airport, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic operating under the provisions of the CRF 14 Part 121 with an instrument flight rules flight plan.

Following the investigation of the American Airlines 1420 accident, the NTSB released a detailed and comprehensive list of the overall findings. Using data from the accident craft’s CVR and FDR, along with a thorough investigation of the crash site, the NTSB findings painted a clear understanding of the string events leading up to the crash. In addition, the events gave insight to the causes that prevented flight 1420 from landing safely in Little Rock.

On Saturday, August twenty-second, a stunt plane at an air show in England crashed and killed seven people. It was said that the pilot of the stunt plane was attempting to do a loop, but lost control and crashed onto a highway. The seven people that were killed in this accident were people just driving on highway and were caught in the accident. The plane model that crashed was called a “Hawker Hunter”, and it was a plane model from the Cold War. Along with the seven people that were killed in the accident, there are around fourteen people that were injured.

This paper will review the July 10, 2007 aviation accident involving a Cessna 310R, N501N, operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing corporate aviation division as a personal flight. The aircraft crashed while attempting an emergency in to Orlando Sanford International Airport, Sanford, Florida after experiencing an in-flight fire. The flight had been released for flight despite it having a known unrepaired maintenance discrepancy. Safety issues discussed in this paper relate to the resetting of circuit breakers, the inspection and maintenance of electrical systems in general aviation aircraft, and the establishment of safety management systems in general aviation corporate aviation operations. Safety

Unsafe acts, attitudes and errors are addressed in this project by assessing the activities of the people involved in operating aircraft, airports, and other facilities. The operations of such individuals are likely to affect the outcomes differently for travelers and airlines. Varied attitudes towards issues like security and errors occurring in some processes may result in significant challenges to the enhancement of safety. These practices will be assessed in the research with a focus on how improvements

To fly was a tremendous triumph for mankind, who was previously sentenced to a life only walking the earth. Since the inception of the airplane, there has been aircraft maintenance. However, this industry has changed dramatically throughout the years and now involves highly innovative technologies and incredibly skilled technicians in order to best maintain the incredibly complex aircraft that fly in today's skies. Maintaining an aircraft is a harmonious blend between simple and intensely complicated procedures. Many procedures even still used to day are relatively simple and have existed for generations, including the basic engine work, refueling and other servicing procedures, and other after-market manufacturing that might take place on particular planes. This is now combined with impressive and innovative technologies that are highly regulated under a wide number of international agencies.

This report explains issues regarding pilots’ health, their effects on flying safely, and measures to avoid catastrophes and jeopardising the life of the pilot, their crew and the passengers.

Flight 1420 was a disaster that taught the aviation community several important lessons. All the Seven Major Elements of Aviation safety can be seen as contributing factors but the greatest factor was human error and the impact of pilot fatigue. With proper preventative measures, the pilots probably would have had the time to arm the MD-82’s spoiler system and the flight would have touched down safely.

Another factor which can explain the accident of 1988 is the influence of disrupted habitual tasks (Dismukes, 2012). One of the main steps in preparing an aircraft for flight is to make sure the wing flaps are in the take-off position; this is then checked off with a checklist and cross-checked again by both of the pilots (Dismukes, 2012). However, if something were to disrupt this sequence, the individuals may have to make changes to their routine, which by now would become a habit to them, which may mean they have to take certain steps in a different order. There have been situations where some pilots have forgotten that they haven’t completed the checklist yet, Dismukes (2012) suggested that it is likely that when an action is performed out of its typical sequence, it removes all relevant cues, like environmental cues, which aid the retrieval of that action. For example, if the pilots frequently reset the wing flaps near the start of the runway, if they have to change their sequence and do it at the end of the runway the usual visual cues are no longer available to them. We can conclude from this that when individuals are performing the sequential steps of specific procedures in their workplace, when their sequence is

This paper will cover an accident that occurred on August 26, 2011 which involved a Eurocopter AS350 B2 helicopter owned by the Air Methods Corporation. The accident in question happened in Mosby, Missouri and resulted in four fatalities. This paper will provide a brief history on the company, aircraft and how it was equipped and human factors that contributed to the accident and a final conclusion of what could have been done to prevent the accident.

What was life like at the “old” British airways? What was difficult about making change?

The science of human factors in aviation has a come along way since the days of the Wright brothers in 1913 but it did not actually start with them. According to Dr. Bill Johnson, Chief Scientist at the Federal Aviation Administration, human factors “dates back to the 1600s when Leonardo da Vinci drew the Vitruvian Man, with all the anthropometric measures, [when] he was trying to decide if a human was strong enough to propel an aircraft” (FAA, 2012). Long after the work of da Vinci, human factors has brought advancements to aircraft design while creating a greater understanding of the human role in mishaps.

If we can find the answers to these questions, then I believe it is possible to limit and slow down the number of human errors in aviation, thusly slowing the number of accidents and lives lost due to human performance.