| Introduction: Brief contextual introduction Body: Highlight the factors contributing to the crashes and measures to enhance safety. Conclusion: Way forward |
The fatal crash of a Bell 212 helicopter flying the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, is one more accident involving high-profile passengers, in mountainous terrain and very poor visibility.
Factors Contributing to Crashes
- Decreased Situational Awareness: When navigating and landing, pilots mostly rely on visual signals. These cues vanish in low visibility, which causes spatial disorientation and makes it harder to judge distance and height.
- Pilot error: Making poor decisions under duress, particularly when landing in questionable weather, can play a big role.
- Inadequate Training: Pilots who land under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), which depend on instruments for navigation in poor visibility, are not always trained for this type of landing.
- Limitations on Equipment: Less modern aircraft do not have advanced instrument landing systems (ILS), which can steer an aircraft to a safe landing even in low visibility.
- Weather Miscalculations: Pilots may find themselves in circumstances where visibility suddenly deteriorates due to weather conditions like fog & heavy rain that are changing quickly.
Enhancing Aviation Safety
- Standardized Minimums: Implementing stricter visibility minimums for take-off and landing at all airports would reduce the pressure to operate in marginal conditions.
- Advanced Training: Encouraging wider adoption of mandatory IFR training for all commercial pilots would improve their ability to handle low-visibility situations.
- Technological Advancements: Investing in next-generation instrument landing systems and ground-based navigation aids would provide more precise guidance in low visibility.
- Crew Resource Management (CRM): Fostering a culture of open communication and shared decision-making within the cockpit can help crews identify and address potential issues before an accident occurs.
- Advanced Weather Forecasting: Investing in better weather prediction models and real-time data dissemination can help pilots make informed decisions about their flights.
Conclusion
By addressing these contributing factors and implementing robust safety measures, the aviation industry can significantly reduce the occurrence of high-profile accidents in poor visibility conditions, thereby enhancing overall flight safety.
