Flight International - August 18, 2015

AIR TRANSPORT

16 | Flight International | 18-31 August 2015 flightglobal.com

Review the half-year accident figures

for 2015 and read our analysis at

flightglobal.com/halfyearsafety

U

S airline accident rates
inched up last year, although
2014 marked the fifth consecutive
year that no passengers were
killed on scheduled flights oper-
ated by US-registered carriers.
According to preliminary fig-
ures released by the US National
Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB), in 2014, US airlines oper-
ating scheduled and non-sched-
uled flights under part 121 regula-
tions suffered 28 accidents out of
more than 9 million departures.
The resulting 2014 accident
rate of 0.311 per 100,000 depar-
tures was up from the 2013 rate of
0.248. That year, airlines suffered
23 accidents, two of them involv-
ing fatalities. Still, 2014 was a
year in which there were no acci-
dents that the NTSB deemed
“major” or even “serious”, mean-
ing none resulted in fatalities to
passengers or crew.

I

nvestigators have concluded

that an incorrect flight mode

setting was the main catalyst for

a loss of separation incident in-

volving a Virgin Australia Boe-

ing 737-800 (VH-YIR) and a Jet-

star Airways Airbus A

(VH-VHL) on final approach to

Sydney.

In its final report into the

4 June 2013 event the Austra -

lian Transport Safety Bureau

(ATSB) says the Virgin 737 was

on an independent visual

approach to Sydney airport’s

runway 16R.

As it approached the extend-

ed centre-line of the runway, the

airport’s traffic collision avoid-

ance system (TCAS) provided a

traffic alert and a resolution ad-

visory in relation to the Jetstar

A320, on approach to the paral-

lel runway 16L.

The pilot of the 737 descend-

ed until the TCAS alert ceased,

and captured the extended cen-

tre-line from the other side,

while the A320 executed a go-

around. The 737 passed through

the centre-line because its auto-

matic flight control system was

not set in the correct mode to in-

tercept and turn onto the run-

way localiser.

The ATSB also found that

the risk of an undetected mode

selection was higher as Virgin

did not require flight crew

to announce flight mode

changes. The carrier has since

updated its procedures to

SOURCE: NTSB address this. ■

Number of accidents per 100,000 departures

Total accidents

Fatal accidents

ACCIDENT RATE FOR PART 121 CARRIERS

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

20

14

20201120122013

10

20

09

202008

07

199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006

REPORT

ELLIS TAYLOR SINGAPORE

Flight mode error

led to conflict on

Sydney approach

according to Flightglobal’s As-

cend consultancy.

That is not to say there were no

accidents in 2014, however. The

NTSB’s tally includes 13 that

caused injuries and 15 that sub-

stantially damaged the aircraft.

However, no hull-loss incidents

were recorded.

Among the most notable inci-

dents last year was the aborted

take-off in Philadelphia of US

Airways flight 1702 on 13 March

in which the nose gear collapsed.

There was also an improve-

ment seen among commuter carri-

ers operating under part 135 regu-

lations, where accidents declined

to 0.635 per 100,000 departures,

down from a rate of 1.186 in 2013.

Commuter carriers were in-

volved in four accidents in 2014,

none causing fatalities. In 2013

there were seven commuter acci-

dents, two of them causing

deaths, NTSB data records. ■

KPA/Zuma/Rex Shutterstock

50 people died when a Q400 crashed near Buffalo in 2009

SAFETY JON HEMMERDINGER WASHINGTON DC

Accident rate up in 2014 for

US carriers, but no fatalities

Data shows slight increase in incidents involving scheduled flights, but no resulting deaths

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Though two crashes in 2013

killed a total of nine crew mem-

bers, no passengers have been

killed on US airliners since 12

February 2009, when a Colgan

Air Bombardier Q400 crashed

near Buffalo, causing 50 deaths.

By comparison, the global air-

line fatal accident rate in 2014 was

one event per 2.38 million flights,