Air Accidents over Water — Selected Forensic Aspects

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Aviation is one of the safest means of transport. Despite increasing amounts of money being spent on safety, this mode of transport is not free from incidents and disasters. The article considers the issue of aviation accidents as a result of which the aircraft has sunk in a body of water. The events of recent years involving the aircraft Air France Flight 447 (Airbus 330-203,2009), Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (Boeing 777, 2014) and a military aircraft of the Russian Federation (Tu-154, 2016), show that aviation is not free from this kind of tragic disaster. One important aspect in such situations is that proper and immediate search and rescue operations are undertaken (i.e. SAR or CSAR). Due to the nature of the location of the event, which is a body of water, the course of procedural and forensic activities differs from the traditional mode of conduct. The algorithm for examination of the scene begins with finding and securing the flight data recorder (i.e. the black box). The methodology for examination in the case of an event in an aquatic environment is non-standard. The actions themselves, including visual examination, cannot be carried out by the specialist but only indirectly by suitably qualified divers or scuba divers. Also, the aquatic environment itself demands that all activities are carried out immediately. Any delay may entail the bodies of victims, material evidence or structural parts being moved by water currents, which in turn can distort the picture of the scene itself. Only after recovery of human bodies and evidence to on board a vessel or ashore is it possible to carry out the necessary forensic examination. In the case of air accidents it is necessary, among others, to determine the number of people involved and the disposition of their bodies, to collect evidence and establish the critical moment of the incident. The preservation of the bodies of victims and material evidence recovered from the water involves special treatment. In this type of event it is possible to use the so-called new technologies in the form of unmanned craft (i.e. underwater drones).