Experts say it’s safe to fly, but that there are still holes in the system that need to be filled.
So far this year, there have been 97 fatal plane accidents in the world, with the vast majority of those occurring in the United States. The recent string of plane crashes, particularly those in Washington D.C. and India, have raised concerns about whether it’s still safe to fly.
“Perfect safety is an unreachable goal. The only way that you can have absolute flight safety is to not fly,” said Paul McCarthy, a former pilot. “If you're going to fly, there is going to be a degree of risk because it's a human endeavor, and humans tend to make mistakes, either in the design or the operation, or the system.”
Various agencies are still working hard to make flying as safe as possible. This week, the Indianapolis International Airport did a live disaster exercise: about 400 people and more than 30 organizations gathered at the airport to simulate and react to a fake plane accident.
Fred Pervine, chief of fire at the airport, said these exercises help the airport evaluate and update its safety plans. In emergency situations, communication is key.
“Everybody has one purpose for safety, security and saving lives. And so how do you do that?” he said. “We got to deal with our hospitals. We can't overload a hospital. We got to look at our transportation, where we transport people, who's available, and trying to get our mindset set and understand what we do and what is the need, and how do we efficiently carry out that need?”
Once the airport receives a call about an aircraft fire on the ground, first responders have about three minutes to arrive at the scene and put out the fire before it’s too late.
“None of us know the date or the hour that a plane crash or an incident can happen,” said Ted Fries, chief of police at the airport. “Our main role is to make sure that we control the scene and the perimeters around the incident, and then secondarily, make sure that the first responders can get to where they need to go.”
The Federal Aviation Administration requires the airport go through a full scale drill every three years. Other years, officials still regularly review and update their safety plans.
Where is there room for improvement?
The National Academies of Sciences recently published a study on Emerging Hazards in Commercial Aviation. It analyzed 10 years’ worth of accidents. The team, along with McCarthy, who is now a committee member, found that one of the main areas for improvement is training pilots to be more comfortable operating modern aircraft and adapting to emergency situations.
“We need people trained when the machine either quits working or isn't doing what you want it to,” he said. “Do you know enough to turn it off and take over and fly it manually? That's what the flight school should be teaching."
Between 60 and 80 percent of accidents are due at least in part to human error. Frank Manderino, senior instructor and program coordinator for the professional flight degree at Indiana State University Aviation, said decreasing that human error could involve updating class lessons and focusing on certain areas, such as crew resource management skills and aeronautical decision-making skills.
“We have a jet simulator where they get used to flying at higher speeds and flying in a crew environment with like a pilot, copilot, or captain and first officer duties,” he said. “It's that kind of experience that can help make a more well-seasoned pilot when they first get to the industry.”
Manderino said he thinks the current string of plane crashes is due to holes in the system that need filling. Some call that the Swiss Cheese Model. Manderino teaches his students there is no one direct cause of an accident; it’s usually a combination of things. When a crash in D.C. occurred earlier this year, Manderino and his class discussed what things could’ve been done to prevent damage.
“There's a hole in the Swiss cheese, and we have an error or threat, it gets through the hole. And if there's another hole right after that, it'll get through it as well,” he said. “But if we can just plug that hole up, we can prevent the accident…so that's why we have a lot of checks and balances. There are certain checklists that we run more than once intentionally, because it's just that imperative to make sure that everything's safe."
Manderino said studying past incidents is one of the best ways to improve regulations and make flying safer.
“We have this little saying that regulations are written in blood, and I would go further and say that aircraft systems are also designed in blood,” Manderino said. “There were accidents that happened that caused us to go ahead and make more regulations and try to design these systems on the airplane, so they alert the pilots to impending danger and things of that sort.”
A need for funding, staffing
The aviation industry lacks funding and up-to-date technology. With the current shortage of air traffic controllers, shifts are longer and air traffic controllers are more fatigued, leading to concerns about safety.
Bloomington native Kyra Hanson just got her degree in air traffic management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and will soon be hired as an air traffic controller by the FAA. She was taught communication and coordination are key in preventing plane accidents.
“A lot of it comes down to communication and just situational awareness, which is constant scanning,” she said. “If you're in the tower, it's scanning of the runway and the taxiways. If you're in the center or tracon, it's constantly scanning the radar scope.”
In class, Hanson was tested on scanning techniques and responding to specific commands. She also had to practice responding to different levels of emergencies through simulators.
“There's one where there's like smoke in the cockpit,” she said, “and you have to deal with … closing that runway, calling the airport fire department and reworking the entire pattern to deal with that emergency.”
One of the things McCarthy’s team is looking into next is how to find better candidates for areas that are understaffed, such as air traffic control.
“If we don't get the resources, the only response that's available is to limit the number of airplanes in the sky,” McCarthy said, “and that will severely impede your ability to fly from here to there.”
