Air Transport Safety Research Articles

Safety of air transport

Safety of air transport

Safety of Air Transport in Relation to Pavement Condition of Runways

Even though the satisfactory condition of the airfield pavement in terms of serviceability, there are some situations, when air traffic safety is affected. There are extreme phenomena in global warming scenarios. In particular, the increase in air temperature during the summer months, due to which decreases the quality of the pavement. At the aerodrome, there are defects in the pavement structures on the runway of large and significant characters, which can cause emergency conditions. Aerodrome pavements must meet the required operational functions, which are characterized mainly by reliability, safety, and serviceability throughout their lifetime. This problem needs to be diagnosed and solved (ICAO 2018). Since most of the aerodrome movement areas are built of cement concrete, control measurements of temperatures and horizontal displacements of cement-concrete slabs started to be carried out since 2011. The article describes the results of measurements and evaluation of non-standard situations occurring at the monitored aerodrome in terms of runways serviceability and air traffic safety.

Fog and its occurrence at the Žilina Airport

Over the past few years, the air transport has developed rapidly and the traveling from continent to continent has increased. But this great development puts higher demands on a transport safety. Meteorology and its conditions are therefore becoming an important part of flight planning. But dangerous weather phenomena can cause problems in our efforts. Fog is a dangerous weather phenomenon that can occur throughout the year. Especially in the vicinity of airports, its occurrence may very quickly change the conditions which affects safety and fluency of air transport. However, there are certain weather situations when fog is more likely to occur. In order to create a mist in a given location, we need to have certain conditions fulfilled in the atmosphere within the a given area. One of the conditions needed for mist or fog to create, is increased presence of water vapor. Since there is a water reservoir near the airport in Žilina, it was assumed that the formation of fog, its duration and abundance was also affected by the nearby water reservoir. The article deals with the analysis of fog occurrence at the airport in Žilina just at the time when the tank was released. The article shows the effect of the reservoir on the occurrence of fog during the period when the reservoir was full but also empty.

UAV flight safety close to the mountain massif

Lately, the UAV has repeatedly been the main issue of many international scientific conferences worldwide and many researchers or professionals are discussing the safety and security of UAVs versus air transport. The state authorities, whether civilian or military, have to find the most appropriate form of solution to create the national legislation that reflects the changes in European legislation after establishing the framework within 2018-2019. At the same time, it is necessary to respond to the ever-growing progress in the production of UAV technologies and their impact on air transport market. However, the most important is the safety of the UAV flights. Which in Slovakia means the ability to safely overcome obstacles, which is the subject of this paper. The paper focuses on the simulation and analysis of UAV vertical flight, while avoiding mountain obstacles in mountain orographic terrain. The result of the research is a method of a safe flight execution in terms of its technical execution while respecting the legislative conditions valid in the territory of the Slovak Republic.

Test and Simulation of 9960Hz Subcarrier Modulation for DVOR Station of Civil Aviation

In order to solve the problem of 9960Hz subcarrier modulation of DVOR system exceeding the limit, this paper use the test system and three-dimensional modelling and simulation technology to ensure flight calibration passes smoothly. Taking an airport for example, the field test and modeling simulation are carried out in the same situation when the surrounding site and parameters are the same with the flight calibration, ensuring that the results are in good agreement with the flight calibration results. We can get that the substation is the key factor which affects the 9960Hz subcarrier modulation exceeding the limit. After removing the substation, 9960Hz subcarrier modulation meet the requirements, the airport pass the flight calibration one-time finally. This method solves the problem of the 9960Hz subcarrier modulation in a DVOR station and provides the reference basis for the problems encountered in the construction and operation of the navigation station, which ensuring the safety and efficiency of air transportation.

Analysis of surveillance position error for airfield detection

Purpose The surveillance equipment is one of the most important parts for current air traffic control systems. It provides aircraft position and other relevant information including flight parameters. However, the existing surveillance equipment has certain position errors between true and detected positions. Operators must understand and account for the characteristics on magnitude and frequency of the position errors in the surveillance systems because these errors can influence the safety of aircraft operation. This study aims to develop the simulation model for analysis of these surveillance position errors to improve the safety of aircrafts in airports. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates the characterization of the position errors observed in airport surface detection equipment of an airport ground surveillance system and proposes a practical method to numerically reproduce the characteristics of the errors. Findings The proposed approach represents position errors more accurately than an alternative simple approach. This study also discusses the application of the computational results in a microscopic simulation modeling environment. Practical implications The surveillance error is analyzed from the radar trajectory data, and a random generator is configured to implement these data. These data are used in the air transportation simulation through an application programing interface, which can be applied to the aircraft trajectory data in the simulation. Subsequently, additionally built environment data are used in the actual simulation to obtain the results from the simulation engine. Originality/value The presented surveillance error analysis and simulation with its implementation plan are expected to be useful for air transportation safety simulations.

Probabilistic multi-aircraft conflict detection approach for trajectory-based operation

Conflict detection (CD) is one of the key functions used to ensure air transport safety and efficiency. In trajectory-based operation (TBO), aircraft are provided with more flexibility in en route trajectory planning and more responsibility for self-separation. The high flexibility in trajectory planning enables random changes in pilot intent, thus increasing the uncertainty in trajectory prediction and CD. This study proposes a novel probabilistic CD approach for TBO in which the uncertainty of pilot intent is taken into account by quantifying the aircraft reachable domain constrained by the flight plan. First, a probabilistic model for aircraft trajectory prediction is developed using the truncated Brownian bridge method. Based on this model, a novel conflict probability estimation method is developed. Finally, the performance of the proposed probabilistic CD approach is demonstrated through an illustrative air traffic scenario.

PERSPECTIVES OF THE METHODS DEVELOPMENT FOR AIRCRAFT MAINTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION

The paper outlines the main problems and perspectives of methods development for regulation and finding compliance of aircraft during the type design maintainability certification. Mentioned requirements and methods relevance are related to the fact that aircraft continuing airworthiness at the operational stage is possible only with a reasonable combination of the maintenance documentation instructions for continuing airworthiness of a type design and the required level of its maintainability, which both meet the minimum requirements of airworthiness standards. Deficiencies in those requirements and means of compliance have notable influence on the safety and effectiveness of air transportation. Main ICAO standards and international practice of regulation and evaluation of aircraft maintainability and instructions for continuing airworthiness are briefly analyzed. On the base of aircraft maintenance requirements analysis recommendations proposed aimed to further develop regulations and means of compliance for a type design maintainability certification. For solving this problem there is a need to implement certain scientific and practical developments in the domain of integrated logistic support as a technology which integrates the reliability, maintainability and other technical operating capabilities activities for a newly-designed aircraft in order to create its effective maintenance system. The kinds of requirements within the aviation regulations and means of compliance for them are recommended, which have to be corrected and developed, as well as directions of works necessary for that, including implementation of computer modelling and prototypes testing for showing compliance of aircraft with the maintainability certification requirements. It is shown a need for implementation of the scientific and practical results of research in integrated logistic support domain which allow for interconnect of the reliability and maintainability activities within a new aircraft design in order to integrate systematically reliability requirements with the necessary maintenance action in support of reliability and with the required for those maintenance works level of type design maintainability.

REDUCING INFLUENCE OF ADVERSE EXTERNAL CONDITIONS IN THE LOCAL AIRPORTS

The problem of the unfavorable weather conditions impact on aircraft, including electric discharges on aircraft, continues to be relevant. For the successful implementation of flights, aviation as a type of transport should ensure safety, regularity and economy of air transportation. The aerial meteorology always takes an active part in above problems solution, since flight safety depends on timely prediction of unfavorable weather conditions. Modern airfield and aircraft equipment, as well as a new meteorological technique, helped to improve flight safety and reduce the number of accidents associated with adverse weather conditions, but this did not solve all the problems of civil aviation meteorological support. This problem is especially acute in small airports, where there are often no means of meteorological support and warnings about dangerous weather phenomena or they are insufficient. The article analyzes various unfavorable weather conditions, their influence on aircraft, provides statistics related to unfavorable weather conditions of aviation accidents, and shows the proportion of meteorological conditions among the factors affecting safety. Particular attention is paid to the problem of electric discharges to aircraft. The consequences of electric discharges on aircraft, as well as weather conditions contributing to electric discharges, are analyzed. In order to improve flight safety at local airports, it is proposed to create mobile units for collecting, processing and transmitting meteorological information that is territorially spread over the aerodrome zone; it allows to create mobile meteorological radar network. The structural scheme of the deployment of the mobile network for meteorological radars is given.

Air Medical Transportation for Severe Acute Pancreatitis Patients over an Extra Long Distance: Is It Safe Enough?

Objective Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) patients usually develop persistent organ dysfunction which causes the majority of deaths. It is important for SAP patients to receive centralized diagnosis and treatment in an experienced tertiary center. China, as a vast country with uneven distribution of medical resources, should take advantage of air medical transportation to meet the challenge of patient transfer among different regions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of air transport for SAP patients via extra long distance. Methods This was a retrospective analysis of all air medical transportations for SAP patients admitted to Jinling Hospital from January 2010 to December 2016. The general characteristics, transportation process, and clinical outcomes of these patients were recorded, and the safety and effectiveness of air transport were evaluated. Results All the 20 SAP patients were successfully transferred by chartered aircraft without any occurrence of severe transport-associated complications. The mean transport time was 5.86 hours and the average transport distance was 1530 kilometers. The majority of SAP patients got timely intervention and the ultimate mortality rate was 15%. Conclusions Air medical transport appears to be safe and effective for SAP patients with vital organ dysfunctions during the extra long-distance transportation.

General model analysis of aeronautical accidents involving human and organizational factors

This paper presents the development of a general model of accident analysis according to the principal factors which influence aeronautical accidents. This study aims to develop a general model of accident analysis able to assess any aircraft accident, taking into account the pilot's abilities, as well as human, organizational, and environmental factors the data of this research was collected through literature, aircraft accident report analysis, technical visits to the center of certification of commercial aircraft pilots, survey of pilots and consultation with industry experts. From this model, it is possible to evaluate the influence of these factors and identify their dependence and relationship, and how they influence the system. With the aid of the Bayesian Networks technique, it is also possible to quantify the factors and assess which ones have more impact on the system. The results show the relationship between the factors that can influence the performance of the pilots and, therefore, they may indicate how these factors can impact on the success or failure of tasks related to flight procedures. The identification of the factors in each category (abilities, performance shaping factor, management and organizational factors, environmental factors) that are relevant to the sector. The identification and quantification of the relationship of dependence (arcs in BN and respective CPT) are also part of the innovative contribution of the paper. The results also may indicate subsidies for mitigating actions, collaborating to the management of operational safety of air transport and to assess the overall impact of the factors that determine any accident.

Safety of air transport

Safety of air transport

Optimizing process of check-in and security check at airport terminals

The paper deals with possibilities of optimizing the process of check-in and security check at airport terminals using simulation program. Proposed model is based on real parameters and simulated in the environment of the program Tecnomatix Plant Simulation. This program simulates the process of check-in and security check. Queuing theory will be used for simulation. Principally it means queuing customers, i.e. accumulation of requests, in front of a service centre. Limiting criteria for optimization include operating conditions of airport terminals, financial means connected with personnel resources, legal standards related to safety in air transport and level of service indicators. The aim of the paper is to create a model, which analyses the passenger flow processes at the airport terminal and could be used for evaluating potential changes of the check-in and security check system at airport terminals.

Международно-правовые аспекты обеспечения безопасности полетов гражданских воздушных судов в районах боевых действий и военных учений

Introduction. Despite the international aviation community’s attempts aimed at improvement of safety of air transport and reduction of the number of air accidents, unfortunately, many threats to safety of civil aircraft still exist to date, including armed conflicts and other military activities taking place in different parts of our planet. Malaysian Boeing 777-200 crash of 17 July 2014 in the eastern Ukraine killing 283 passengers and 15 crew members has become the tragedy clearly showing the risks, to which the civil aircraft and passengers on board flying in the airspace over the areas of armed conflicts, are exposed. In light of this accident, the author examines the present international legal regime of safety of civil aircraft flying over the areas of armed conflicts and military exercises, identifies the problems of this regime and proposes the ways of its improvement. Materials and methods . The present research has been conducted on the basis of international air law treaties, the documents of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), as well as the works of Russian and foreign international law experts. The methodology of the research is based upon general scientific and special methods, including dialectical method, methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, comparative legal method. Research results . On the basis of his research the author concludes that neither the present-day international legal regime of safety of civil aircraft flying over the areas of armed conflicts and military exercises, nor existing rules of international air law prohibiting use of weapons against civil aircraft can prevent accidents similar to Malaysian airplane crash of 17 July 2014. In view of this conclusion, the author proposes improvement of international legal regime of safety of civil aviation, and in particular, amendment of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944 (“Chicago Convention of 1944”) aimed at enhancement of States’ obligations relating to restriction of flights of civil aircraft within their sovereign airspace during armed conflicts or other military activities. Discussion and conclusions . The author examines treaty and customary rules of international law governing the issues of safety of civil aircraft flying over the areas of armed conflicts and military exercises as well as ICAO standards and other acts (documents) and concludes that they do not precisely oblige the States to restrict or prohibit flights of civil aircraft in their sovereign airspace during armed conflicts, military exercises or other hazardous military activities. Moreover, the provisions of the Chicago Convention of 1944 and other international treaties prohibiting the use of weapons against civil aircraft are imperfect and do not fully protect civil aviation from different types of weapons. Therefore, the ICAO’s work following Malaysian airplane crash of 17 July 2014 for the purpose of enhancement of protection of civil aviation from the threats arising from armed conflicts and other hazardous military activities appears insufficient and must include more efficient measures, such as adoption of new international treaty rules containing precise States’ obligations.

THE FUTURE OF PASSENGER AIR TRANSPORT – VERY LARGE AIRCRAFT AND OUT KEY HUMAN FACTORS AFFECTING THE OPERATION AND SAFETY OF PASSENGER AIR TRANSPORT

The article outlines some human factors affecting the operation and safety of passenger air transport given the massive increase in the use of the VLA. Decrease of the impact of the CO2 world emissions is one of the key goals for the new aircraft design. The main wave is going to reduce the burned fuel. Therefore, the eco-efficiency engines combined with reasonable economic operation of the aircraft are very important from an aviation perspective. The prediction for the year 2030 says that about 90% of people, which will use long-haul flights to fly between big cities. So, the A380 was designed exactly for this time period, with a focus on the right capacity, right operating cost and right fuel burn per seat. There is no aircraft today with better fuel burn combined with eco-efficiency per seat, than the A380. The very large aircrafts (VLAs) are the future of the commercial passenger aviation. Operating cost versus safety or CO2 emissions versus increasing automation inside the new generation aircraft. Almost 80% of the world aircraft accidents are caused by human error based on wrong action, reaction or final decision of pilots, the catastrophic failures of aircraft systems, or air traffic control errors are not so frequent. So, we are at the beginning of a new age in passenger aviation and the role of the human factor is more important than ever.

Influence of meteorological phenomena on worldwide aircraft accidents, 1967–2010

ABSTRACTBased on the information available in databases from relevant national and international organizations from 1967 to 2010, an Aviation Weather Accidents Database (AWAD) was built. According to the AWAD, the weather is the primary cause in a growing percentage of annual aircraft accidents: from about 40% in 1967 to almost 50% in 2010. While the absolute number of fatalities and injured people due to aircraft accidents has decreased significantly, the percentage of fatalities and injured people in accidents attributed to the weather shows a slight increase in the studied period. The influence of turbulence, clear air turbulence, wind shear, low visibility, rain, icing, snow and storms on aircraft accidents was analysed, considering the different phases of flight, the meteorological seasons of the year and the spatial distribution over four zones of the Earth. These zones were defined following meteorological and climatological criteria, instead of using the typical political criteria. A major part of the accidents and accidents attributed to the weather occur in latitudes between 12° and 38° in both hemispheres. It is concluded that actions aimed at reducing the risk associated with low visibility, rain and turbulence, in this order, should have priority to achieve the most significant improvements in air transport safety.

Distributed Flight Routing and Scheduling for Air Traffic Flow Management

Air traffic flow management (ATFM) is an important component in an air traffic control system and has significant effects on the safety and efficiency of air transportation. In this paper, we propose a distributed ATFM strategy to minimize the airport departure and arrival schedule deviations. The scheduling problem is formulated based on an en-route air traffic system model consisting of air routes, waypoints, and airports. A cell transmission flow dynamic model is adopted to describe the system dynamics under safety related constraints, such as the capacities of air routes and airports, and the aircraft speed limits. Our ATFM problem is formulated as an integer quadratic programming problem. To overcome the computational complexity associated with this problem, we first solve a relaxed quadratic programming problem by a distributed approach based on Lagrangian relaxation. Then a heuristic forward-backward propagation algorithm is proposed to obtain the final integer solution. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheduling strategy.

Method for measuring factors that affect the performance of pilots

This paper presents the development of a model of accident analysis according to the principal factors which influence aeronautical accidents that are able to assess any aircraft accident, taking into account human, organizational, environmental and airport infrastructure factors. The methodology of data collection of this research was through the literature, analysis of aircraft accident reports, technical visits to the center of certification of commercial aircraft pilots and interviews with industry experts. From this model, it is possible to evaluate the influence of these factors and identify the dependence and relationship existing, and how they influence the system. With the aid of Bayesian Networks technique, it is also possible to quantify the factors and assess which ones have more impact in the system. The results show the relationship between the factors that can influence the performance of the pilots and therefore can indicate how it may impact the success or failure of tasks related to flight procedures. The results also may indicate subsidies for mitigating actions, collaborating in the management of operational safety of air transport and assessing the overall impact of the factors that determine any accident.

Incorporation of International Aviation Security Conventions into China’s Legislation: Further Integration Is Needed for Effective Implementation

Aviation security is governed by a series of international treaties adopted by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which are binding to its signatory contracting Member States. Its effective implementation to a great extent relies on each individual Member State in its integration of these international instruments to its domestic legal system. While having made significant efforts in this endeavour, China is unable to implement these treaties in full, with one of the difficulties being ambiguous, implicit, narrower, dispersed, fragmented, and inconsistent stipulations and provisions in its domestic legislation. This article examines China’s practice in incorporating and implementing international aviation security conventions in its domestic legal framework, hence identifying the discrepancies and challenges in China’s application practice. It argues that China should take a more unified approach to ensure a further coherent integration of international treaties and domestic law so as to fulfil its international obligation more responsibly. Suggestions are made in the hope that a well-developed and all-embracing legal order can be established to combat any acts threatening the safety of international air transport to safeguard a safe, healthy, and orderly development of the industry.

Safety as a management concept in the air transport sector: A systematic literature review

Purpose: The main purpose of the present study is to conduct a literature review of the contribution made by safety in air transport, based on the existing international academic literature in the field of the social sciences. It primarily attempts to examine and verify the relationship between safety-related concepts (co-occurrence), the link between the different authors (co-authorship) and the corresponding citations (co-citations). Methodology: To achieve the established objectives, a systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted using the Scopus database between the years 1990 and 2016, identifying international academic papers related to the research topic of the present study. Findings: It has been verified, on the one hand, that safety in the air transport sector is a field of growing interest, as the number of papers has increased considerably in recent years, thus demonstrating the importance that this topic has acquired over time. On the other hand, however, it must be mentioned that the total quantity of papers related to the topic is low in terms of absolute numbers. The results of the co-occurrence analysis show that the most important aspect of safety is safety management, while the strongest link is between safety management and aircraft accidents, a fact that is foreseeable a priori. Originality/value: The approach used allows a better view of the academic contribution made in relation to safety; this serves as the link among the different elements of the concept studied, and it demonstrates the growing interest in this area.