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Safety
Special Issues
Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention
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Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention

A special issue of Safety (ISSN 2313-576X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 September 2024 | Viewed by 13143

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Douglas Boyd
*
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Aeronautics, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University World Wide, 600 South Clyde Morris Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL 32114, USA
Interests: general aviation accidents; aviation safety; light aircraft; human factors
* Commercial Pilot
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Nihad E. Daidzic
*
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Aviation Department, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN 56001, USA
Interests: analytical, computational and experimental fluid mechanics and aerodynamics; aerospace propulsion and space operations; physics of flight and aerospace vehicles; aircraft performance, stability, control, maneuverability, and handling qualities; development of best practices and advanced piloting techniques
* Airline Transport Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although commercial air travel is one of the safest modes of transportation, general aviation, comprised mainly of non-revenue, light aircraft (<12,500 lbs.), boasts a poor safety record with a >60-fold higher fatal accident rate. Additionally, accidents for the latter impose a financial burden on the USA of up to $4.64 billion annually. While a modest reduction in the general aviation fatal accident rate has been witnessed over the last decade, a wide chasm still exists between this sector of aviation and air carriers. How then to improve general aviation safety? In the past, implementing changes towards improving general aviation safety has been reactive (to an accident). In contrast, more recent emphasis, certainly with air carriers, has been placed on a proactive gathering of in-flight data (e.g., via flight operations quality assurance, , etc.) towards averting future mishaps. This Special Issue seeks papers encompassing all aspects of aviation safety/accident prevention/investigations inclusive of, but not limited to, (i) technologies (e.g., portable and panel-mounted devices), (ii), human factors (fatigue/impairment, obesity, aeronautical decision making), (iii), aircraft design (e.g., to prevent overbanking tendencies/loss-of-control, crashworthiness), (iv) general aviation airman recurrency training with emphasis on emergencies, (v) aviation weather and its interoperation, (vi) educational programs (e.g., threat error management programs) in order to effect a reduction in accident rates and injury severity.

Dr. Douglas Boyd
Prof. Dr. Nihad E. Daidzic 
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Safety is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • aviation accidents and investigations
  • aviation safety
  • human factors
  • safety management systems
  • threat and error management
  • aviation weather and air traffic control system
  • flight envelope protection systems
  • stability augmentation systems and autopilots
  • aircraft energy management and warning systems
  • aircraft design

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

6 pages, 171 KiB  
Communication
Nose-Over and Nose-Down Accidents in General Aviation: Tailwheels and Aging Airplanes
by Alex de Voogt and Kayla Louteiro
Safety 2024, 10(2), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety10020039 - 13 Apr 2024
Viewed by 308
Abstract
Safety in General Aviation has been a continuous concern. About 12% of all airplane accidents in General Aviation involve nose-overs and nose-down events. A total of 134 accidents reported by the National Transportation Safety Board that include nose-overs and nose-downs were analyzed for [...] Read more.
Safety in General Aviation has been a continuous concern. About 12% of all airplane accidents in General Aviation involve nose-overs and nose-down events. A total of 134 accidents reported by the National Transportation Safety Board that include nose-overs and nose-downs were analyzed for their main causes. It was found that 35% of the defining events involved a loss of control on the ground while 58% of the total dataset involved tailwheel-type aircraft. A relatively high proportion of aircraft built before 1950 were found, which are also aircraft that have tailwheel-type landing gear, and thereby a higher propensity for ground loops and nose-overs. It is shown that the high accident rate in General Aviation, especially for accidents that did not result in a fatality, was, to an important extent, explained by tailwheel and older aircraft in the US General Aviation airplane fleet struggling with controlling the aircraft on the ground. Attention to this group of aircraft in future studies may help to more effectively address the relatively high accident rates in General Aviation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention)
16 pages, 891 KiB  
Article
Mitigating the Negative Effect of Air Traffic Controller Mental Workload on Job Performance: The Role of Mindfulness and Social Work Support
by Bader Alaydi and Siew-Imm Ng
Safety 2024, 10(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety10010020 - 20 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1221
Abstract
Air traffic controllers (ATCOs) play a substantial part in securing the safety of flights, such that a compromise of the ATCOs’ performance may lead to tragedies. Given the mental workload that comes with the nature of ATCOs’ work, this study intends to investigate [...] Read more.
Air traffic controllers (ATCOs) play a substantial part in securing the safety of flights, such that a compromise of the ATCOs’ performance may lead to tragedies. Given the mental workload that comes with the nature of ATCOs’ work, this study intends to investigate the impact of mental workload on ATCOs’ job performance and identify conditional factors that could mitigate the mental workload–ATCOs’ job performance relationship. Underpinned by the job demands–resources theory, a framework was developed to investigate the impact of job demands (mental workload) on job performance and whether personal resources (mindfulness and social work support) weaken the relationship. A total of 324 ATCOs across Saudi Arabia responded to the questionnaire. There were three notable findings. First, mental workload was indeed found to bring detrimental effects to ATCOs’ job performance. Second, mindfulness played a mitigating role, where more mindful ATCOs demonstrated less workload effect on performance. Thirdly, social work support also played a mitigating role, where ATCOs who perceived receiving greater job support experienced less detrimental impact from the workload on performance. This study verified the negative linkages between mental workload and job performance and identified the boundary conditions (mindfulness and social work support) that weaken the relationship. The limitations and future research directions are then discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention)
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16 pages, 13870 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Use of Geographic Information Systems to Identify Spatial Patterns of Remote UAS Pilots and Possible National Airspace Risk
by Damon J. Lercel and Joseph P. Hupy
Safety 2023, 9(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety9010018 - 22 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2229
Abstract
The proliferation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the United States National Airspace System (NAS) has resulted in an increasing number of close encounters between manned aircraft and UAS, which correlates with the increasing number of remote pilots in the Federal Aviation Administration [...] Read more.
The proliferation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the United States National Airspace System (NAS) has resulted in an increasing number of close encounters between manned aircraft and UAS, which correlates with the increasing number of remote pilots in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airmen database. This research explores spatial patterns of registered airmen using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses that provide notable spatial distribution patterns of pilots and how they relate to UAS sightings and airspace categories. The application of GIS to these aviation data may assist safety practitioners with identifying geographic patterns, areas of higher risk, and ultimately improve safety management. The authors analyzed publicly available airmen data to examine spatial distribution patterns, data correlations, and inferences. Airmen addresses were first geocoded into ArcPro 10.4 GIS software as a vector data layer containing attribute values of the database. The spatial analysis tool set was then utilized to establish clustering, density patterns, and spatial relationships between various categories of registered airmen. These density analyses revealed implicitly that commercial registered pilots tend to have the highest clustering near major commercial use controlled airspace, yet registered remote (UAS) pilots are also clustered in these and other densely populated areas. UAS sighting data were also geocoded using zip code values of the reported city to potentially correlate UAS sighting with registered remote pilots, yet the lack of spatial precision in the database made establishing any type of spatial relationship ineffective. The implicit spatial relationships between commercial and remote registered pilots revealed further research is needed to integrate UAS safely and effectively into the national airspace. The poor quality of UAS sighting data also demonstrates the need to better utilize GIS to monitor and track UAS flights within the context of an Unmanned Traffic Management System. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention)
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11 pages, 268 KiB  
Article
Commercial Aircraft-Assisted Suicide Accident Investigations Re-Visited—Agreeing to Disagree?
by Alpo Vuorio, Robert Bor, Antti Sajantila, Anna-Stina Suhonen-Malm and Bruce Budowle
Safety 2023, 9(1), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety9010017 - 12 Mar 2023
Viewed by 2174
Abstract
Background: The number of aircraft-assisted suicides can only be considered a rough estimate because it is difficult and, at times, impossible to identify all cases of suicide. Methods: Four recent reports of accidents occurring in 1997 in Indonesia, 1999 in Massachusetts in the [...] Read more.
Background: The number of aircraft-assisted suicides can only be considered a rough estimate because it is difficult and, at times, impossible to identify all cases of suicide. Methods: Four recent reports of accidents occurring in 1997 in Indonesia, 1999 in Massachusetts in the United States, 2013 in Namibia, and 2015 in France related to commercial aircraft-assisted suicides were analyzed. This analysis relied on data extracted from the accident reports that supported aircraft-assisted suicide from the: (a) cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR), (b) medical history, (c) psychosocial history, (d) toxicology, (e) autopsy, and (f) any methodology that utilized aviation medicine. There are some limitations in this study. Although all analyzed accident investigations followed ICAO Annex 13 guidelines, there is variability in their accident investigations and reporting. In addition, accident investigation reports represent accidents from 1997 to 2015, and during this time, there has been a change in the way accidents are reported. The nature of this analysis is explorative. The aim was to identify how the various aircraft accident investigators concluded that the accidents were due to suicidal acts. Results: In all four accident reports, FDR data were available. CVR data were also available, except for one accident where CVR data were only partially available. Comprehensive medical and psychosocial histories were available in only one of four of the accident reports. Conclusion: To prevent accidents involving commercial aircraft, it is necessary to identify the causes of these accidents to be able to provide meaningful safety recommendations. A detailed psychological autopsy of pilots can and likely will assist in investigations, as well as generate recommendations that will substantially contribute to mitigating accidents due to pilot suicide. Airborne image recording may be a useful tool to provide additional information about events leading up to a crash and thus assist in accident investigations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention)
5 pages, 190 KiB  
Communication
Technical Failures in Helicopters: Non-Powerplant-Related Accidents
by Alex de Voogt and Keyashia Nero
Safety 2023, 9(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety9010010 - 22 Feb 2023
Viewed by 2099
Abstract
Technical failures in helicopters are a main concern for helicopter safety. The prominence of mechanical failures differs for specific helicopter operations. This analysis used 151 General Aviation accident reports from the National Transportation Safety Board online database from an 11-year time period. The [...] Read more.
Technical failures in helicopters are a main concern for helicopter safety. The prominence of mechanical failures differs for specific helicopter operations. This analysis used 151 General Aviation accident reports from the National Transportation Safety Board online database from an 11-year time period. The information in each report was collated, including the list of findings for each accident. Possible relations between causes and specific flight operations were analyzed by looking at significant differences between expected and actual values within the dataset of categorical data. It is found that the proportion of fatal accidents in this category of accidents is low (16.6%) compared with the percentage of fatal helicopter accidents in general, as well as those of specific helicopter operations. Instructional flights appear significantly more likely to be associated with maintenance-related causes. Causes related to fatigue of aircraft parts are more often associated with ferry and positional flights, as well as helicopters with turbo-shaft engines. Future research is recommended for these specific associations to further mitigate the number of accidents with non-powerplant failures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention)
11 pages, 2097 KiB  
Article
Objective Evaluation of the Somatogravic Illusion from Flight Data of an Airplane Accident
by Eric L. Groen, Torin K. Clark, Mark M. J. Houben, Jelte E. Bos and Randall J. Mumaw
Safety 2022, 8(4), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety8040085 - 14 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2294
Abstract
(1) Background: It is difficult for accident investigators to objectively determine whether spatial disorientation may have contributed to a fatal airplane accident. In this paper, we evaluate three methods to reconstruct the possible occurrence of the somatogravic illusion based on flight data recordings [...] Read more.
(1) Background: It is difficult for accident investigators to objectively determine whether spatial disorientation may have contributed to a fatal airplane accident. In this paper, we evaluate three methods to reconstruct the possible occurrence of the somatogravic illusion based on flight data recordings from an airplane accident. (2) Methods: The outputs of two vestibular models were compared with the “standard” method, which uses the unprocessed gravito-inertial acceleration (GIA). (3) Results: All three methods predicted that the changing orientation of the GIA would lead to a somatogravic illusion when no visual references were available. However, the methods were not able to explain the first pitch-down control input by the pilot flying, which may have been triggered by the inadvertent activation of the go-around mode and a corresponding pitch-up moment. Both vestibular models predicted a few seconds delay in the illusory tilt from GIA due to central processing and sensory integration. (4) Conclusions: While it is difficult to determine which method best predicted the somatogravic illusion perceived during the accident without data on the pilot’s pitch perception, both vestibular models go beyond the GIA analysis in taking into account validated vestibular dynamics, and they also account for other vestibular illusions. In that respect, accident investigators would benefit from a unified and validated vestibular model to better explain pilot actions in accidents related to spatial disorientation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aviation Safety—Accident Investigation, Analysis and Prevention)
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