Pilots, Others Encouraged To Review Lessons From The Past
The
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established a
one-of-a-kind online safety library that teaches "lessons learned"
from some of the world's most historically significant transport
airplane accidents... especially how that knowledge can help
maintain today's aviation safety record.
"Why study aircraft accidents that happened as long as 40 years
ago?" the agency asks, rhetorically. "The FAA believes many of the
lessons learned from these tragedies are timeless, and are relevant
to today's aviation community. By learning from the past, aviation
professionals can use that knowledge to recognize key factors, and
potentially prevent another accident from occurring under similar
circumstances, or for similar reasons, in the future.
"The FAA's Lessons Learned library, in its initial release,
lists 11 major airplane accidents that made an impact on the way
the aviation industry and the FAA conduct business today. The FAA's
goal is to stock the library with 40 more historically significant
accidents by the end of 2009."
The 11 selected accidents now in the library are:
- Braniff L-188 (Electra) in Texas (September 29, 1959)
- Northwest L-188 (Electra) in Indiana (March 17, 1960)
- United Viscount 745D in Maryland (November 23, 1962)
- United 727 near Los Angeles (January 18, 1969)
- Eastern L-1011 in Florida (December 29, 1972)
- Continental DC-10 at LAX (March 1, 1978)
- Air Florida 737 at Washington, D.C. (January 13, 1982)
- British Airtours B737 at Manchester, UK (August 22, 1985)
- USAir 737 in Pennsylvania (September 8, 1994)
- ValuJet DC-9 in Florida (May 11, 1996)
- China Airlines 747 near Taipei (May 25, 2002)
Each accident entry features the accident investigation
findings, resulting safety recommendations and subsequent
regulatory and policy changes, if any. The entry also includes
sections on the unsafe conditions that existed, precursors that
pointed to an impending accident, and the basic safety assumptions
made during the airplanes' design, or that led to the airplanes'
continued operation.
Most important, the lessons learned from the investigation are
explained in detail, and grouped into relevant technical areas and
common themes, such as organizational lapses, human error, flawed
assumptions, preexisting failures and unintended consequences of
design choices.
"The FAA believes that the Lessons Learned library can help
foster a culture in which aviation professionals capture and use
day-to-day information from certification, maintenance, and
operational activities to improve safety," the agency notes. "The
expected benefits from examining the library include more
consistent safety decisions and fewer safety problems caused by
breakdowns in communication between design, maintenance and
operational organizations."