SAFETY

Aviation safety in decline, says foundation president

Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, said yesterday that this year's global aviation safety performance seemed lackluster compared to that of last year.

"Overall, safety performance for commercial jets remains excellent, but not as good as last year," he said at the 15th National Flight Safety Conference in Taipei, jointly hosted by the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) and the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA).

Voss' presentation showed that 13 accidents have already happened from January to October of this year, in which a China Airlines' airplane explosion in Naha was listed.

Voss was referring to a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 airliner that caught fire moments after landing AT Naha Airport, Okinawa, in August. All 165 passengers on board escaped unscathed.

A total of nine aviation accidents happened worldwide last year, he said.

According to Voss, an aviation incident was classified as an accident either when the aircraft is destroyed or there are multiple fatalities to the occupants. An accident also refers to the situation where there is one fatality and the aircraft is substantially damaged.

Statistics in his presentation indicated that the major accident rate has been decreasing from 31 per million departures in 1996 to 11 per million departures last year.

Voss also pointed out that accidents as a result of commercial jet loss of control and turbo propeller controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) dominate the fatality numbers this year.

Voss added that more than 50 percent of all major accidents this year occurred during the "approach and landing" phase of an aircraft's operation, which begins when an airplane news its destination airport and prepares for landing. Meanwhile, he said more efforts have been made to reduce the risks in runway safety.

The council originally decided to cancel the conference this year in order to host the 60th Annual International Air Safety Seminar, which is deemed one of the most important events by flight safety authorities around the world.

However, the ASC was informed by the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) in June that it had to forgo the right to host the seminar because of China's opposition to the arrangement. Eventually, the council decided to resume the opening of its annual Flight Safety Conference.

Besides Voss, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Ambassador Edward Stimpson and former FSF president Stuart Matthews also attended the conference yesterday.

Matthews called for Taiwan's participation in an initiative called the Global Aviation Safety Road Map, which was created to coordinate and guide aviation safety policies among members of ICAO.