Causes and Remedies of Controlled Flight into Terrain in Military and Civil Aviation

Abstract

Abstract : Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents continue to be a primary cause of fatalities and airframe losses in aviation. Alerting and automation technologies such as Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS), Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS), and Ground Collision Avoidance Systems (GCAS) are offered as partial solutions to this problem. This article reviews current accident data for CFIT accidents in both US Air Force and commercial aviation over the last 10 to 15 years. The magnitude of the CFIT problem, circumstances in which it occurs, and its causes are detailed based on these data. The differences and similarities between CFIT in the Air Force and CFIT in civil aviation are discussed. Finally, current and future remedies of CFIT accidents in both the civil and military aviation communities are described, compared, and contrasted. It is concluded that, in addition to warning and automatic collision avoidance systems, systems are needed to improve flight crew situation awareness, especially terrain awareness.