Not enough vetting, not enough tracking

At the recent annual International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety and operations conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s aviation and security response to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines aircraft, MH 370, and its 239 passengers and crew, was being scrutinized by industry experts and governments worldwide. The tragedy heightened IATA’s commitment to developing a global tracking system for commercial aircraft. It also prompted a request that governments improve their security and vetting procedures for boarding passengers.

by CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, TOM BALLANTYNE  

May 1st 2014

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No, unlike our texts and emails, governments and their ATC operators are not always tracking commercial airline flights. Nor are immigration authorities consistently checking passengers with airline supplied lists or Interpol notifications. Read More »

IATA director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, summed up the thoughts of delegates at the IATA safety and operations conference in Kuala Lumpur when he said: “In a world where our every move is tracked, there is disbelief that an aircraft could simply disappear and that the black boxes are so difficult to recover.”

Immigration vetting procedures are falling short at some of the region’s airports

Responding to the disappearance of the MAS B777 aircraft on March 8, Tyler told delegates the industry was moving quickly to try and ensure a big commercial jet could never again simply disappear. At press time, neither the aircraft nor any passengers and crew had been found.

IATA, he said, was urgently bringing together an expert task force, which will include the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), to examine all options available for tracking commercial aircraft. The group “will report its conclusions by December, reflecting the need for urgent action and careful analysis.”

“Air France 447 (which disappeared over the South Atlantic but was later largely recovered) brought similar issues to light a few years ago and some progress was made. That must be accelerated. We cannot let another aircraft simply disappear. In our eagerness to move this along, we must also ensure that prudent decisions are made in line with global standards. This is not the time for hastily prepared sales pitches or regional solutions,” he said

“The ICAO process is the way to move this forward. I have no doubt that governments are eager to come to a conclusion and take action as soon as possible.”

Knowing where aircraft are was the primary issue, but not the only one, Tyler said. “Serious security questions have been raised by the revelation that two of the passengers aboard the doomed flight had boarded with fake passports, a fact that ‘raised alarm bells’.”

Airlines were neither border guards nor policemen, he said. “That is the well-established responsibility of governments. The industry goes to great effort and expense to ensure that governments who require API (Advance Passenger Information) receive reliable data. And, along with our passengers, airlines have a right to ask these governments to review their processes for vetting and using this data—for example against databases such as the Interpol stolen and lost passport database. The information is critical and it must be used effectively.”

At the conference, IATA released its 50th annual Safety Report, which clearly showed airlines are safer than ever, with the last two years the safest for flying of all time. The report, a complete analysis of safety during 2013, documented 210 fatalities from commercial aviation accidents last year, down from 414 in 2012 and well below the five year average of 517.

The Western-built jet accident rate (measured in hull losses per million flights) was 0.41, the equivalent of one accident for every 2.4 million flights. This was a step back from 2012, when the global Western-built jet accident rate stood at 0.21, the lowest in aviation history.

In the five years from 2009 to 2013, there was a 14.6% improvement on the five-year average of 0.48. Western-built jet hull loss rate for members of IATA was 0.30, which outperformed the global average by 26.8%.

“Safety is our highest priority. The aviation industry is united in its commitment to ensure continuous safety improvement. Importantly, that commitment has made flying ever safer.

“Accidents, however rare, do happen. We release this data as the world continues to focus on the search effort for MH 370,” said Tyler. “The airline industry, its stakeholders and regulators are at the beginning of the journey to unravel this mystery, understand the cause and find ways to ensure that it never happens again.”

Last year, more than three billion people flew safely on 36.4 million flights (29.5 million by jet, 6.9 million by turboprop). There were 81 accidents (all aircraft types, Eastern and Western built), up from 75 in 2012, but below the five-year average of 86 per year.

There were 16 fatal accidents (all aircraft types) compared with 15 in 2012 and the five-year average of 19. Asia’s performance was mixed, with North Asia having no accidents at all. However, the accident rate for the rest of the region worsened from 0.50 to 0.70 accidents per one million flights.

A fact emphasized by the safety report was the critical, global role IATA’s Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) plays in improving safety. IOSA registered airlines experienced only six Western-built jet hull loss accidents, a rate more than two times better than the rate for non-IOSA carriers.

“The overall performance of IOSA airlines shows the audits are among the factors that have a positive impact on safety. To increase the effectiveness of the IOSA process, we are upgrading to Enhanced IOSA which incorporates systems to monitor compliance across the two-year audit cycle. This is moving IOSA from a once every two-year snapshot to a continuous management process,” said Tyler.

Accidents that remain a concern for the industry are runway excursions, accounting for 23% of all accidents over the past five years. Controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accidents are also a concern, with six in 2013. Most CFIT accidents occur in the approach and landing phases of flight and are often associated with non-precision approaches. From 2009 through 2013, 52% of CFIT accidents were known to involve the lack of a precision approach. There is a very strong correlation between the lack of Instrument Landing Systems or state-of-the-art approach procedures, such as performance base navigation (PBN), and CFIT accidents.

To reduce CFIT incidents, IATA is establishing a campaign for states to hasten the introduction of PBN approach procedures for runways not equipped with precision approaches.

The industry has also moved to make increasing use of data analysis to drive safety improvements. Said Tyler: “IATA has created the Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) program as a comprehensive safety data warehouse. The GADM includes analysis of reports covering accidents, incidents, ground damage, maintenance and audits, plus data from more than 1.8 million flights in the last 15 months. Up to 390 airlines are contributing to at least one GADM database.”

“Analysis of this information will be used to identify industry safety issues and to drive and prioritize initiatives and actions to solve the identified issues. Safety is a team effort. Using data will help us identify potential areas of concern, long before they rise to the level of a threat to safety,” he said.