Aircraft Accidents Research Articles

Analysis of the existing approaches to in-flight aircraft rerouting

Currently, the large number of aircraft accidents is associated with the loss of control in flight and a controlled flight into terrain. It frequently occurs due to a change of flight conditions, relatively which a preparation for departure was carried out, and involves the necessity to reroute efficiently in the conditions of increased psychophysiological load and time constraint for decisionmaking. Generated thunderstorm cells on route, artificial or natural obstacles, not considered while planning a route, can result in amending a flight plan, which was earlier accepted and implemented in the automatic, flight director or manual modes of control. The lack of comprehensive situational awareness is fairly a frequent cause of aviation accidents for general aviation aircraft. Aviation accidents of transport category aircraft are typically associated with incorrect crew actions when dangerous flight zones are detected along the route. The article represents an overview and analyzes modern onboard facilities to detect obstacles, as well as required pilot actions to reroute a flight for in-flight detected obstacle avoidance. The current level of avionics development provides situational awareness necessary for obstacles avoidance but requires timely, correct and sometimes non-obvious flight crew rerouting decisions. The algorithms used with robotic packages of various applications in related fields ensure the automatic rerouting for obstacle avoidance. They cannot be directly used or adapted for the implementation on board an aircraft due to the lack of consideration for aircraft specific features when obstacle avoidance routing, i.e., restrictions of control parameters (an angle of attack, overload, roll angle), capabilities of a control system (available rate of overload, available and maximally allowable angular rolling velocity, etc.). Therefore, the issue to develop a system to support pilot decisions for obstacle avoidance is relevant. It encompasses the synthesis of safe alternatives for obstacle avoidance which are optimal by a pilot-assigned criterion (minimum loss of time, minimum additional fuel consumption, etc.).

Regional Collaboration for Aircraft Accident Investigation as Impetus for Aviation Safety in Africa

Aircraft accident investigation is a feedback mechanism which enhances aviation safety by identifying inadequacies and also taking steps to prevent future accidents. Investigation in this regard is to be carried out by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) states through national accident investigation authorities and should there be a lack of human or economic resources, regional accident investigation organisations can be formed by states to benefit from a balance on economies of scale. This article examines regional collaboration for aircraft accident investigation in Africa. It finds that the performance of African States in the area of aircraft accident investigation is below average and also notes that a major cause of this inadequacy is a lack of both human and economic resources. It thereby posits that regional collaborations on aircraft accident investigation among African states will advance aviation safety in Africa, and it is thus necessary for African states to collaborate on this. While acknowledging the contributions of the Banjul Accord Group Accident Investigation Agency, a case is made for the establishment of regional aircraft accident investigation organisations in Africa on a wider scale through the existing regional economic communities recognised by the African Union.

Evaluating the Influence of the International Civil Aviation Organization on Aircraft Accident Rates and Fatalities: A Seven-Decade Historical Data Analysis

The advent of air travel, originally proposed by the Wright brothers, has led to a significant surge in aircraft usage for human transportation. In its nascent stages, this mode of transport was linked with a high frequency of accidents and consequent fatalities, placing it in the high-risk category. To counter these risks, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was established in 1947 as a collaborative effort among numerous countries with the primary goal of enhancing aviation safety regulations. This study analyzed archival data from the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives (B3A), covering a span of 72 years from 1918, the year of the first commercial airplane crash, until 2020. The objective was to understand the ICAO's impact on altering accident rates, fatalities, and underlying causes. Analytical methodologies encompassed both descriptive statistics—examining data distribution, central tendencies, and category frequencies—and exploratory data analysis (EDA) to identify variable relationships and outlier identification. The results indicated that ICAO's interventions have led to a notable decline in accident rates, with an annual average reduction of 70.9%, and a corresponding decrease in incidents attributed to technical factors. However, an unexpected trend was the increase in fatalities despite the drop in accident numbers, attributable to the introduction of larger aircraft designs carrying more passengers per flight. The findings underscore the ICAO's successful efforts in reducing aircraft accidents, but also suggest a need for further exploration into factors contributing to the rise in fatalities.

On-Board Parameter Optimization for Space-Based Infrared Air Vehicle Detection Based on ADS-B Data

Frequent aviation safety accidents of civil aircraft misses and crashes lead to an urgent need for flight safety assurance. Due to long-time flights over different backgrounds, accompanied by the changes in flight altitude and speed, it is difficult for a conventional space-based infrared detection system to use a set of fixed parameters to meet the stable detection requirement. To enhance the awareness of civil aircraft surveillance, a real-time parameter optimization method based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data is proposed. According to the background spectral characteristics and the real-time flight data, the most reasonable spectral band is analyzed, using the joint signal-to-noise/clutter ratio (JSNCR) as the evaluation criteria. Then, an automatic parameter adjustment is used to maximize the integration time and switch the integration capacitor gear. Numerical simulation results show that the JSNCR increased by 1.16 to 1.31 times, and the corresponding noise equivalent target radiant intensity (NET) reduced from 2.4 W/Sr to 1.2 W/Sr compared with a conventional fixed-parameter detection system. This study lays a solid theoretical foundation for the spectral band analysis of space-based AVD system design. Meanwhile, the proposed method can be used as a standard procedure to improve on-board performance.

Tenerife Accident Analysis: a comparison of Fault Tree Analysis, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis and Causal Analysis based on System Theory

Air transport is considered to be the safest means of transport. However, if an accident occurs, it often ends in catastrophe. Thus, significant efforts have been paid to sustain successful operations in aviation. Several studies have been carried out to understand the underlying reasons for accidents. This study used Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Causal Analysis based on Systems Theory (CAST) methods to analyse Tenerife aircraft accident and to compare the findings of different methods. The findings showed that while all three methods provided some overlapping findings, the CAST method led to the identification of all causes that were identified by other methods. Considering the nature of the causal factors, FMEA provided more causal factors that are related to organisation and technology than FTA. This study indicates that CAST has a significant value to identify all causes that can be identified by the use of traditional methods.

Predicting the Number of Fatalities in Extreme Civil Aviation Accidents

This study estimates the probability of extreme fatalities from civil airplane accidents in the United States since the early 1980s. To this end, extreme civil airplane accidents were modeled using extreme value statistics, allowing for changes in the distribution due to other factors. The analysis revealed that an extreme aircraft accident causes 18 to 20 fatalities every two years with costs between 111.6 and 124 million U.S. dollars (USD); whereas accidents with (at least) between 70 and 100 fatalities will occur every 20 years, costing between 424 and 620 million USD. The findings also indicate that higher volumes of air traffic increase the return levels of severe aviation accidents, whereas higher ticket prices reduce the likelihood of these. The findings emphasize the serious consequences of airplane accidents with respect to the number of fatalities but also how these depend on market conditions.

PENERAPAN METODE POISSON EXPONENTIALLY WEIGHTED MOVING AVERAGE (PEWMA) UNTUK MEMBUAT BAGAN PENGENDALI VARIABEL BERDISTRIBUSI POISSON

Airplane is a mode of transportation that has an accident risk. Aircraft accidents are recorded to occur almost every year in Indonesia. The Poisson distribution is used to model the number of aircraft accidents that occur each year because they have a fixed time and independent. Statistical quality control is applied as a method to monitor the number of fatal aircraft accidents in Indonesia that are within control limits. One method to carry out quality control is to use a control chart. This study aims to apply the Poisson Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (PEWMA) method to create a control chart with a case study of the number of fatal airplane accidents in Indonesia from 1962 to 2021 with a Poisson distribution. The EWMA control chart is used to monitor the average or process variability and is considered effective in detecting small shifts in the process (the shift is said to be small if the shift is less than 1.5σ). The calculation of Average Run Length (ARL) is performed to test the performance of the PEWMA control chart. Control charts with smaller out-of-control ARLs are considered superior and can detect process shifts more quickly than other control charts. Based on the results of the calculation of the ARL value, it was found that the weight of 0.3 is the optimal weight with the smallest ARL value of 1.138 which is able to describe the state of the data on fatal aircraft accidents in Indonesia. The control chart with the optimal weight shows the data on fatal aircraft accidents in Indonesia that are tolerated equal to one.

Aircraft Accident Provisions in Islamic Jurisprudence

Aircraft accidents have become a serious problem that is difficult to solve despite all efforts made by governments, regular bodies and others to solve the problem. However, the danger is constantly increasing as it causes the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. It affects millions of people around the world. Transportation in all its forms by land, sea and air, public or private, is one of the main pillars for the development and growth of people and societies. Therefore, accidents that occur by means of transportation in all their forms must be avoided, which is a cause for concern and threatens the safety and health of transportation. The right to life is one of the fundamental human rights that no one has the right to violate. Preserving human life and soul is one of the purposes of the Sharia. Islamic Sharia considers assaulting and killing an innocent person a major crime and a great sin, making the amount of punishment necessary for the perpetrators of premeditated murder. This research deals with the subject of the provisions of aircraft accidents in light of Islamic jurisprudence. In this research, an analytical and descriptive approach was used. Researching this issue is necessary because most traffic accidents result in material or non-material damages. And the need to know the legal provisions of those who commit these incidents directly or indirectly. As a guarantee of physical and physical damage, the nature of this guarantee and who is responsible for it or to whom it goes. In this research, I seek to explain the concept of aircraft accidents, the causes of aircraft accidents that are different, and the provisions of aircraft accidents whose ruling differs due to the intent of the perpetrator. If it is an unreliable accident, it is not guaranteed, and if it is an unreliable accident due to the failure of the commander, it is guaranteed. And if it is approved, it is considered premeditated murder, and retaliation is required for it. At the end of the article, I explained the ruling on hijacking planes, that it is the same as the crime of spearing. Its rulings explained its punishment in the light of Islamic jurisprudence.

Holistic Approach to Ensuring Safety and Cybersecurity in the Use of Intelligent Technologies in Air Transport

The article is devoted to the study and analysis of the problems associated with the use of intelligent technologies in air transport security and cybersecurity issues. Possible dangers that may arise when using autonomous systems, including autonomous aircraft, are considered. The technical measures that can be taken to prevent these dangers, including the development of new methods of cybersecurity and protection against hacker attacks, are analyzed. The problem of ensuring security in air transport associated with the introduction of new technologies and automated systems is investigated. The risks associated with this process are described, such as possible aircraft accidents, data storage problems, and passenger safety issues. Technical measures that can be taken to ensure safety in air transport, including the development of new technologies and diagnostic methods that can detect possible problems before they become serious, are considered. Practical solutions to these problems are proposed, including the development of new security and cybersecurity systems that can be used in air transport. The technical measures that can be taken to ensure the safety and efficiency of the use of intelligent technologies in air transport are described. It is established that the developed simulation model can serve as an effective tool for managing the processes of aircraft ground handling at the airport, as well as allow predicting the results of such processes and developing algorithms for the rational allocation of resources, considering the functioning of the system in different modes. To ensure the efficient functioning of the aircraft ground handling system, it is proposed to implement technical measures to improve cybersecurity and ensure the system's resilience to possible cyberattacks.

An unbiased function‐based Poisson adaptive EWMA control chart for monitoring range of shifts

AbstractFor monitoring the number of nonconformities per unit in industrial processes during the inspection, Poisson control charts are most widely deployed. These charting structures are referred to as attribute control charts as the quality characteristic under study is based on a nominal scale other than a quantitative or measured scale. In this study, Poisson adaptive exponentially weighted moving average (PAEWMA) has been designed and the performance of the said chart under a steady‐state situation along with the zero‐state condition has been studied for detecting changes over an unknown range of shifts. The enactment of the proposed PAEWMA design with existing schemes has been evaluated and compared using run‐length (RL) profiles such as; average RL (ARL), the standard deviation of RL (SDRL), and some percentile points of the RL distribution. The extra quadratic loss and relative mean index measures have been used for comparing the range of shifts. The comparison reveals that the proposed PAEWMA chart under the steady‐state situations performs far better than the competitors. The effect of estimation of the process parameter is also a part of the study. The three applications of the proposal have been included; which are taken from the artificial dataset, from past study monitoring dataset, and the other from the aircraft accident monitoring data for the implementation of the proposal.

Commercial Aircraft-Assisted Suicide Accident Investigations Re-Visited—Agreeing to Disagree?

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.

Grenzen der Sicherheit. Unfälle, Medien und Politik im deutschen Kaiserreich ed. by Amerigo Caruso and Birgit Metzger

Reviewed by: Grenzen der Sicherheit. Unfälle, Medien und Politik im deutschen Kaiserreich ed. by Amerigo Caruso and Birgit Metzger Jens-Uwe Guettel Grenzen der Sicherheit. Unfälle, Medien und Politik im deutschen Kaiserreich. Edited by Amerigo Caruso and Birgit Metzger. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2022. Pp. 293. Hardcover €36.90. ISBN 978-3835339064. This edited volume is a much-needed intervention in newly invigorated debates about the German Empire. The volume's concrete focus on accidents, their reception, politicization, and utilization in the Kaiserreich before 1914 provides depth and details to discussions that, after the critique of Hedwig Richter's Demokratie. Eine deutsche Affäre, have tended to unfold within, at times, rather lofty historiographical meta-levels. Grenzen der Sicherheit brings us back down to earth (even below the earth's surface level with respect to mining accidents) as the book covers everything from non-military shooting accidents (Dagmar Ellerbrock) to collisions of naval ships (Sebastian Rojek) and zeppelin accidents (Jürgen Bleibler, Rüdiger Haude), to accidents within the army (Birgit Metzger), to mining and industrial disasters (Michael Farrenkopf, Fabian Trinkaus), to the accidental deaths of prominent individuals such as Friedrich August II of Saxony (Amerigo Caruso) and the pioneer of aviation Otto Lilienthal (Peter Busse/Bernd Lukasch). Grenzen der Sicherheit provides us with the history of accidents in the German Empire and thus combines two separate debates: inquiries into the handling of physical risks and the changing attitudes towards and demands for individual and collective security on the one hand, and on the other, longstanding questions about the character of the first German nation state and the ambiguities of modernity (7–8). The book covers these issues with great verve and clarity, and the individual [End Page 157] chapters show repeatedly how significantly perceptions about risk, risk management, and related social controlling and policing mechanisms changed between the middle years of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Dagmar Ellerbrock's chapter on gun-related accidents highlights this development, as it traces both the changing public attitudes toward private shooting accidents and deaths and the correspondingly shifting policy responses, thereby clearly demonstrating that in the early years of the twentieth century these events were seen as a security problem in need of policy solutions, while the same issues had been perceived as natural risks half a century earlier. Other chapters of the book sketch out similar developments, among them Michael Farrenkopf's contribution on mining disasters and Fabian Trinkaus's piece on accidents in the iron and steel industry. Yet Grenzen der Sicherheit also shows that social and political responses did not always sync up with the growing knowledge and awareness of certain risks. A partial exception to this "norm" is presented in the book's chapters on aircraft accidents. Especially with respect to the frequent and disastrous accidents of Count Zeppelin's airships, Farrenkopf and Trinkaus both show that public reaction nevertheless remained favorable to these machines, as they were seen as symbols of German technological prowess and imperial aspirations. With respect to the book's intervention in debates about "the character of the first German nation state," Grenzen der Sicherheit answers as many queries as it raises new questions. Given this edited volume's breadth and depth, this is entirely as it should be. The book's contributions demonstrate convincingly how significantly attitudes towards what constituted (acceptable) social and individual risk(s) changed during the covered period. However, this process is at least at times described as an essentially naturally occurring one, rather than as a development driven by human actors. For example, the increasing public awareness (and fear) of gun-related accidents during the years before the beginning of war in 1914 was not just fueled by independently changing attitudes toward privately owned firearms and accidents caused by them, but also by the increased use of such weapons in unruly and densely populated working-class neighborhoods. Beginning with the massive suffrage demonstrations in the spring of 1910 and the Moabit unrests later during the same year, the increased use of privately owned weapons resulted in something of an arms race between the Prussian police and working-class demonstrators. Changing perceptions of what risks were...

Spinal injuries after ejection seat evacuation in fighter aircraft of the German Armed Forces between 1975 and 2021.

The ejection seat is one of the most important rescue tools for military aircrews. However, the high ejection speeds place high loads on the pilots, which is mainly absorbed by the pilot's spine. The differentiated evaluation of spinal injuries is of particular importance because this has a decisive influence on the further personal life and career of the affected aircrew members. Factors influencing the occurrence of a fracture as well as the impact of a spinal injury on military flight certification have not been addressed sufficiently to date. The authors conducted a retrospective evaluation of ejection seat evacuations in German Armed Forces combat aircraft accidents between 1975 and 2021. The total number of aviation accidents with ejection seat initiations and the survived ejections were collected. Accident-specific data and pilot-specific data were collected. In addition, it was evaluated whether aircrew members were recertified for military flight after the accident. The type of spinal injury and the location of the injury were evaluated. In addition to the descriptive statistics, two logistic regression models were developed to assess prediction values of accident- and pilot-specific factors for spine injuries. A total of 103 aircrew members were included in this retrospective analysis. The overall prevalence of spine injuries was 56.3%, and the overall prevalence of spine fractures was 33.0%. In the first regression model analysis, there was no association with pilot flight experience, age, height, weight, BMI, and being diagnosed with a spine fracture. Similarly, aircraft type, altitude, and airspeed were not associated with the occurrence of spine fractures. In the regression model analysis for predictors of rejection in military flight recertification after ejection seat evacuation, lumbar spine fractures were associated with higher odds of being rejected for recertification. Military aircraft crew members have a high risk of suffering from a spine injury after emergency evacuation using an ejection seat. In the subsequent medical workup, special attention should be paid to the spine, and ideally a consultation with a spine surgeon should be performed. Lumbar spine fractures may have major consequences for military flight certification, and therefore special attention should be paid to successful rehabilitation.

ANALYSIS OF PLANE CRASH IN NIGERIA AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM SPECIFIC DISASTER: DANA AIR 0992, 5N-RAM CRASH

Modern society continues to depend heavily on the wealth and services generated by highly automated and mechanised systems. Therefore, physical assets, including manual and automated systems, must be directed and safeguarded. When these assets fail, life, property, credibility, and trust are typically lost. In the face of rapidly changing technology and maintenance philosophies, one way to avoid failures and catastrophes is to learn from past failures and implement the lessons or recommendations derived from such analyses and reports. Nigeria, like other nations, has experienced disasters caused by asset failures in businesses, factories, and residences.Consequently, the purpose of this article is to raise public awareness and alarm regarding the repercussions of the Nigerian aviation industrys failure to learn from past failures and disasters. As a case study, it employs a documented Dana Air aircraft accident report. In addition, it employs Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), a deductive failure technique, and Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) to gain a deeper understanding of the aircraft accident and its root causes. As a result, a feedback loop is established for the development of additional ideas and actions to prevent future disasters in Nigeria.

Short- and Long-Term Changes in the Neurophysiological Status of Pilots Due to Radiation Exposure Caused by Geomagnetic Storms

Pilots who have completed successfully all the tests of cognitive and personality psychology have a strong commitment to their movements, and they influence their neural stimulation, such as the ability to acknowledge the right steps to follow in their tasks or dangerous situations. One of the branches of Aviation Psychology is dealing with the physical and mental effects of flight on aircrew personnel and passengers. Astronomical events, such as geomagnetic storms (GSs) that have a disruptive effect on Earth’s magnetosphere in certain periods, will cause negative effects on aircrew personnel and passengers. This article describes the expected damage to the different areas of the brain and nervous system in short- and long-term periods caused by the effects of GSs, based on the results of previous studies on GSs and neurophysiological studies. This is a very important topic for neurophysiological studies of pilots when we consider that aircraft accidents that may be geomagnetic in origin accounted for 26.36% of the total accidents which coincide with the days of GSs. Decision-making and judgment problems, abnormal attitudes such as anger, fearlessness, temerity, self-confidence, etc., decreasing problem-solving abilities, organization capabilities, and instantaneous decisions are the short-term changes while developing cancers of the brain, testis, bladder, breast, colon, melanoma, and Hodgkin’s type, in addition to Alzheimer’s and dementia diseases, hypoglycaemia, stroke, epileptic seizures, insomnia, stomach bleeding, appendicitis, hernia, asthma, and severe spinal pains can be lead in the long-term changes. We mentioned the psychological and medical application method of EEG in our article since it is the best technique that allows us to see the effects of these storms in the laboratory environment. This is because, the aircrew personnel and passengers flying at high latitudes will experience the effect of the GSs directly, whereas the response of the pilot, flight crew, and passengers flying in the middle latitudes, to these effects, can be measured only with tests in the laboratory environment. This paper has also special importance for the aviation literature because a theoretical recommendation regarding the possible laboratory environment for EEG measurements and application procedures necessary to investigate these effects is also presented.

Effects of incremented auditory feedback on remote vehicle operator task performance

Remote vehicle operators (RVO) work in a sensory-deprived environment. A reduction or absence of sensory cueing like auditory feedback, combined with variable workload, has been attributed to a number of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) accidents. Therefore, this research sought to understand the relationship between workload and dynamic auditory feedback on RVO task performance. Twenty-four participants completed a counterbalanced series of decision-making (spatial orientation accuracy) and perception (spotting accuracy) tasks in an automated beyond visual line of sight environment, under varying workload and auditory volume levels. The management style employed by participants in dealing with the auditory information was also measured and compared with decision-making performance. A relative decline in spatial orientation accuracy was evident when auditory feedback was considered “soft” or “loud” (±10 dBA) compared with a participant-defined comfortable volume level, but contingent on an adequate level of workload experienced concurrently. From an applied perspective, these findings support the inclusion of adaptive auditory systems in future Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) designs.

Proposal for Modification of the Syllabus for Ultralight Aircraft Pilot's Training

This article proposes modifications of the basic training syllabus for ultralight aircraft pilots based on the statistical data and analysis of ultralight aircraft accidents in the Czechia and Slovakia between 2016 to 2021. The article gives an overview of the current state of ultralight aviation in both countries and its current regulations, focusing on the need for increased safety measures. The article analyses existing accident data and identifies the causes of accidents, including human factors, equipment failure and other environmental factors. Based on this analysis, training modifications are proposed to improve pilot knowledge and skills, strengthen safety procedures and protocols, and reduce the likelihood of accidents. The proposed changes include an increase in training hours and practical experience focused on emergency procedures, flight parameters, and weather conditions. The results of this study contribute to ongoing efforts to improve the safety of ultralight aviation and inform and support about policy decisions regarding training requirements and regulatory frameworks.

Actions of the aviation on-board fire protection system caused by short circuits in control blocks

Abstract The article presents the results of simulation tests of the SSP-FK aviation fire protection system and identification of the main reasons of its false operation on many aeroplanes and helicopters of the Polish Armed Forces using a diagnostic simulator built at ITWL. The results of the performed statistical analyzes pointing to the execution blocks as the key factors in false fire signalling are discussed. Selected test results of the developed simulation model of the actuator block under electrical short-circuit conditions in its control circuits (particularly on printed circuit boards) are presented. The effectiveness of the proposed test method with a simulation model of a fire protection system, which can be used to train the engineering and aviation service and pilots and to support the work of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission, was pointed out.

Human-in-Loop Decision-Making and Autonomy: Lessons Learnt from the Aviation Industry Transferred to Cyber-Physical Systems

In this study, we reviewed aircraft accidents in order to understand how autonomy and safety has been managed in the aviation industry, with the aim of transferring our findings to autonomous cyber-physical systems (CPSs) in general. Through the qualitative analysis of 26 reports of aircraft accidents that took place from 2016 to 2022, we identified the most common contributing factors and the actors involved in aircraft accidents. We found that accidents were rarely the result of a single event or actor, with the most common contributing factor being non-adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs). Considering that the aviation industry has had decades to perfect their SOPs, it is important for CPSs not only to consider the actors and causes that may contribute to safety-related issues, but also to consider well-defined reporting practices, as well as the different levels of mechanisms checked by diverse stakeholders, in order to minimise the cascading nature of such events to improve safety. In addition to proposing a new definition of safety, in this study we suggest reviewing high-reliability organisations to offer further insights as part of future research on CPS safety.

Hydrodynamic and Particle Drift Modeling as a Support System for Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) Emergencies: Application to the C-212 Aircraft Accident on 2 September, 2011, in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile

Search and rescue (SAR) refers to every operation aiming to find someone presumed lost, sick, or injured in remote or hard-to-access areas. This study presents the design of an operational system that supports maritime SAR emergencies by combining information from global hydrodynamic models (GHM) and a local hydrodynamic model (LHM) implemented in FVCOM. The output of these hydrodynamic models is used as input in a multiple particle drift estimator (MPDE) to estimate the trajectories of the floating elements derived from accidents in the ocean. The MPDE also includes trajectory estimates using the empirical LEEWAY formulation. The modeling system is validated with data collected during a SAR emergency that occurred on 2 September 2011, where a C-212 aircraft from the Chilean Air Force destined to the Juan Fernández Archipelago crashed in the ocean between the islands of Santa Clara and Robinson Crusoe. Trajectories were assessed in terms of the commonly used NCLS (normalized cumulative Lagrangian separation) performance indicator and a modified version, NCLSmod, which considers both the movement and orientation of the trajectories. The LHM was executed in three scenarios: forced only with tide, forced with tide and wind combined, and forced only with wind. The performance of the different models varied in response to the ocean–atmosphere conditions and their local variations at the time of the accident. In times of calm wind, models with tidal influence performed better, while wind-forced models performed better when winds were greater than 7 km h−1. The use of FVCOM (LHM) solved the coastal circulation and accounted for bathymetric effects in the Juan Fernández Archipelago area. This resulted in an improved variability and distribution of the modeled trajectories compared to the observed drifter trajectories. This work is the first study related to cases of maritime SAR emergencies in Chile, and provides a fast tool to estimate search areas based on an ensemble of particle drift and trajectory forecasts using multiple publicly available data sources.