Today, accidents occur less than once for every 2 million flights, an impressive improvement considering the time period over which it ccurred. Topic Background After the composition of modern aircrafts, airplanes have occupied a large quantity proportion of transport and armed force. As the economic and technical development, greater population has chosen to travel by air. Nowadays, air travel is regarded as the most dangerous as well as most secure method in different measuring ways.
Recently, airline safety has drawn public’s attentions again due to the incident of Malaysia Airlines System Berhad (MAS). The airplane has been missing with 227 passengers and 12 crews. By now, there is no obvious clue to indicate the exact position f wrecks. Accidents, human error, hijackings, sabotage, or military actions are the main causes of passenger fatalities in the numbered events. Nevertheless, these problems can be mostly conquered through regulation, education, training and supervising.
In general, authorities and governments have facilitated the specific agencies to ensure the safety of aeroplanes in form of security check, police guards and so forth. Airline Safety Organizations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a special agency operated by United Nations. It has codified principles and techniques of international viation and initiated planning and development of transport to ensure the order of safety and efficiency of air navigation. The ICAO Council has adopted a series of standards and practices to prevent further potential illegal interference.
This agency aims at international cooperation among member States through constitutional affairs and provided technical assistance to promote air safety standards worldwide. Aviation Safety Network (ASN) is a database recorded airline incidents started in 1919. This website is run by Flight Safety Foundations (FSF), which is an international organization contributed to the research, education, dvocacy and publishing in the field of air safety. ASN has detailed information specified on particular categories or factors of any considerable air disaster.
Past Actions In order to change the scope of future corrective actions in aviation, a multitude of governmental sectors and specialized organizations alike must understand the nature of past corrective actions, as well as safety management systems. When looking at statistics for aircraft accidents over the past thirty years, the number of crashes has experienced a sign ificant downward trend. This is largely due to a number of strategic changes dministered to several worldwide regions. No matter if the error be of technical or terrorist nature, it must be hypothesized, analyzed, corrected, and prevented. nited States The United States has been statistically noted as having the most fatal plane crashes by country, with one-third of the world’s aviation accidents having claimed 10,505 lives since 1945, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network. This statistic must also be taken in correspondence to the fact that the united States produces the highest amount of flights per year, per capita. As a response to the September 1 1, 2001 attacks which left the US in need o revitalize its stance towards aviation safety, the Transportation Security Administration was created.
The organization then became in charge of developing policies to better protect air travel, especially in airport security and the prevention of further aircraft hijacking. The U. S. Transportation Secretary argued in favor of the creation, stating that one single federal agency would prove more effective than the private companies under contract to single airlines or a small group of airlines. Screening methods established by the TSA included updating identification requirements, which then required that passengers show a valid ID at the ecurity checkpoint before boarding their flight, a protocol not previously in place.
A No-Fly list was established, consisting in 2012 of about 21 ,OOO names of officiated terrorists and suspects who must refrain from boarding. Pat- down procedures, deemed controversial by many, involved the inspection of the body by TSA officers. Full-body scanners were installed in many large international airports. The newfangled methods used by the Transportation Security Administration were heavily scrutinized by the public, who criticized the identification procedures as being significantly racist against those of Arab descent.
The scanning and screening procedures were argued against, for citizens heavily emphasized the lack of physical privacy and bodily intrusions the new processes involved. Effectiveness is questionable, as unintended consequences such as data security incidents and increasing road fatalities occur in unknown numbers as a result. Africa A prominent contributor to global economic prosperity, as well as playing a key role to facilitate economic growth, air transport is a high area of focus, especially for developing nations.
Thus, aviation safety is a primary aspect needing improvement in such a delicate region. Member states of the United Nations in Africa continue to face challenges in effective implementation of Aviation Safety Rules and Procedures, resulting in safety deficiencies that pose significant challenges to the growth of civil aviation. AFI Plan, or the Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa was established in 2008 to provide support for African States in addressing the aforementioned deficiencies. rior to the plan’s establishment, Africa has demonstrated its commitment to promote reliable and sustainable safe air transport by adopting a high-level set of targets designed to improve aviation safety. The aviation safety targets are promoted by initiatives to assist the member states of the continent. With regards to air personnel training in particular, the AFI Plan has trained over 2,193 employees over the four-year period from 2008-2012. The Plan promotes the establishment and strengthening of regional African safety oversight organizations, primarily as a means for the pooling of scarce resources.
Though these efforts have already shown tangible results, it should also be recognized that continuous support of the I-IN-drafted AFI Plan, Member States, the industry, and donors is still required for safety concerns to be fully ddressed and resolved. International Civil Aviation Organization The ICAO is committed to developing proactive and risk-based solutions to reduce the global accident rate and the Organization calls upon the aviation community to recognize the importance of adhering to a globally harmonized approach to improving and monitoring safety.
In 2012 alone, the number of accidents in 2013 decreased by 21 percent, while the number of fatalities decreased by 1 0 percent, making 2013 the safest year with regard to fatalities since 2004. The reduction in accidents in combination with increasing epartures, the global accident rate had reduced to “3. 2 accidents per million departures”. The United Nations, in collaboration with ICAO, plans to dilute this number further. Possible Solutions Airline safety (also known as aviation safety) is an issue that impacts every single passengers security during the flight.
The improvements for airline safety include the collaborations between the manufacturers, airlines, operators, crew, research organizations, government, etc. A number of potential solutions exist, including but not limited to the following. By improving and supervising the qualities of the products: Safe products are he first concern for all the airlines, but is every airplane meets the standards and requirements? How can the manufacturers guarantee and improve the qualities? Rigorous testing for the products could be one of many good approaches that allows the manufacturers to find problems and fix them before the airplane enters service.
But delegates should still explore other solutions to improve the qualities of the products. By relentlessly monitoring the behavior of the fleet: This can help the airlines identify particular areas where the current and future products can be enhanced and improved. By eveloping and exploring new technologies: Through developing sophisticated technologies could help reduce the risks of the airline accidents. Ex: The “Flight Deck System” designed by Boeing company helped the airplanes avoid two major problems in air:” wind shear and controlled-flight- into-terrain (CFIT). By investigating the previous accidents: Although the top concern for all the airlines is how to prevent accidents from happening but the researches for the previous accidents could help all the airlines identify where the problems are and to some extent make the same kind of problems do not recur in the future. By reducing human-made errors: Human errors are authenticated as a primary contributor to “more than 70 percent” of airplane accidents. Delegates should consider different kinds of methods to reduce the human errors, and specifically how to be guaranteed to implement these changes.
Further Research Guiding Questions Has your nation ever taken any actions to promote aviation safety or better the world of consumer flying? What notable accidents have occurred on your nation’s soil or using your nation’s planes in the past few decades? What were the most prominent reasons behind each flight’s demise? What are some ossible limitations, regulations, or sanctions that can be placed by your country to further regulate the level of aviation safety your country exhibits?