Controlled flight into terrain
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Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) describes an accident whereby an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, inadvertently flies into terrain, an obstacle, or water. The term was developed by engineers at Boeing in the late 1970s.[citation needed] The pilots are generally unaware of the danger until it is too late.
In civil and especially in private aviation, CFIT may be humorously referred to as the result of "rock-filled clouds" or "cumulogranite" (a contraction of the terms cumulus, or "cloud," and granite) when it is caused by terrain being obscured by clouds.[1]
Pilots with any level of experience, even highly experienced professionals, may commit CFIT. Pilot fatigue, loss of situational awareness, or disorientation may play a role. The incidents often involve impact with significantly raised terrain such as hills or mountains, and may occur in conditions of clouds or otherwise reduced visibility. CFIT often occurs during aircraft descent to landing, near an airport.
CFIT may be associated with equipment malfunction. If the malfunction occurs in a piece of navigational equipment, it may mislead the crew into improperly guiding the aircraft despite other information received from all properly functioning equipment, or despite clear sky visibility that should have allowed the crew to easily notice ground proximity (compare tunnel vision). In other cases, the usually minor malfunction does not affect the overall airworthiness of the plane, but may distract the crew from properly guiding the plane.
In order to combat the occurrence of CFIT accidents, manufacturers and safety regulators developed the Ground Proximity Warning System GPWS, which uses a Radar altimeter to assist in calculating terrain closure rates. This system has now been further improved with the addition of a GPS terrain database. Now known as Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System EGPWS, both systems have mandatory pilot procedures and actions following any caution or warning event.[2]
[edit] Notable accidents
Many notable accidents have been ascribed to CFIT.
- The famous crash of the Star Dust airliner on August 2, 1947. Due to a misjudgment of position, the flight crew appear to have believed that the aircraft was approaching the airport of Santiago. The plane vanished shortly after its last transmission estimating the time of its arrival at Santiago. Its wreckage was discovered fifty years later.
- The crash of Southern Airlines Flight 932 in the mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, on November 14, 1970. All 75 on board, including 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, and four crew members, died in the accident. The plane was destroyed. It was to approach Tri-State Airport. We Are Marshall, a film about this accident and its aftermath, was released in 2006.
- The crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 near Miami, Florida on December 29, 1972. The captain, first officer, and flight engineer had become fixated on a faulty landing gear light and had failed to realize that the autopilot had been switched off. The distracted flight crew did not recognize the plane's slow descent and the otherwise completely airworthy aircraft struck the ground in the Everglades, killing 101 out of 176 passengers and crew.
- The crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 into Mount Erebus, Antarctica on November 28, 1979. There is still disagreement over the exact causes of the crash, but it is commonly accepted that a changing of preprogrammed coordinates, the pilots' loss of situational awareness and whiteout conditions at the time were contributory factors leading to the crash. All 257 people on the plane were killed.
- January 18, 1982 - the "Diamond Crash" incident. Four members of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds in their T-38 Talon aircraft crash during pre-season training. The crash is blamed on faulty equipment in the lead aircraft; regardless of the status of that aircraft, the other three flew into the ground with their leader. This incident led to the Thunderbirds converting in the following season to the then brand-new F-16 Fighting Falcon.
- Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 air disaster - October 19, 1986, resulting in the death of Mozambican president Samora Machel and 24 others
- The crash of Indian Airlines Flight 113 on October 19, 1988 at Ahmedabad, India. The aircraft hit an electric mast five miles (eight km) out on approach in poor visibility. All six crew members and 124 of 129 passengers were killed.
- The crash of Indian Airlines Flight 605 on 14 February 1990. The plane impacted a golf course 2300 feet short of the runway during final approach to Bangalore, killing 92 on board.
- 59 days before the PIA Flight 268 accident at Kathmandu (see next item), Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashed on approach to Kathmandu. All 111 people on board were killed.
- The crash of Pakistan International Airlines Flight 268 on approach to Kathmandu on September 28, 1992. The approach to Kathmandu is difficult, as the airport is located in an oval-shaped valley surrounded by mountains. Flight 268 was approximately 900 feet below the designated approach path and impacted a steep cloud-covered hillside. All 167 people on the plane were killed.
- The crash of American Airlines Flight 965 on December 20, 1995. The Boeing 757-223 impacted tree-covered mountainous terrain near Cali, Colombia. The crew failed to recognize a series of navigational errors they had made, and forgot that they had deployed the air brakes. All eight crew members and 152 of the 156 passengers were killed.
- 1996 New Hampshire Learjet crash - lost December 24, 1996 - found November 13, 1999
- Crossair Flight 3597 was an AVRO RJ100, registration HB-IXM, on a scheduled flight from Berlin, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland that crashed during its landing approach towards Zurich International Airport on November 24, 2001, killing 24 people.
- September 14, 2003: 31-year-old Captain Chris Stricklin, flying Thunderbird #6 (opposing solo) failed to pull out of a dive but safely ejected at Mountain Home AFB in southwest Idaho. Stricklin miscalculated the altitude required to complete his opening maneuver, a "Split S". The elevation of the airfield was about 1100 feet higher than the Thunderbirds' home base at Nellis AFB. He climbed to an inadequate altitude of just 1670 feet above ground level, instead of 2500 feet, before initiating the pull-down dive of the Split S maneuver. Stricklin ejected when the rapidly descending F-16C was only 140 feet above ground - just 0.8 seconds prior to impact. His parachute deployed just above the ground and he sustained only minor injuries from the ejection. There were no injuries to any personnel or spectators on the ground.
[edit] See also
- Air safety
- CFIT articles in SKYbrary: The single point of reference in the network of aviation safety knowledge
- FBW or (Digital Fly-by-wire)
- Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS)
- EGPWS/TAWS
- Traffic Collision Avoidance System
- Pilot error
[edit] References
- ^ Flying Blind (from Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Accessed 2008-02-06.)
- ^ Honeywell Aerospace EGPWS Website [1]
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