Experts warn of one aircraft accident per week 2010 onwards

Port Blair, Aug 5: Experts have warned of one aircraft accident per week on an average from 2010 onwards because of increased number of flights in operation.

The scary data was presented by Er US Paul Russel, senior engineer of Indian during a lecture yesterday on the topic '' Use of Advanced Hazard Avoidance Avionics Systems in Civil Aircraft Present and Future '' in Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Giving data about the accidents which took place in the past 20 years, he said about 50 per cent of take off accident was due to crew error and 25 per cent accident was caused due to inclement weather and 10-15 per cent owing to aircraft failure.

The modern aircraft are equipped with Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) to avoid CFIT (Control Flight Into Terrain) and Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) to avoid collision between aircraft, he said.

Elaborating on EGPWS, he said it augmented the classic GPWS modes of operation by including it in computer.

A model of earth's terrain and man-made objects, including the airport database inside, could continuously compare the aircraft position to a virtual three dimensional map of the real world, thus predicting an evolving hazardous situation much in advance, he added.

Referring to the TCAS instrument/system equipped in aircraft, Er Paul informed that it detects any aircraft flying in the vicinity with working transponders by interrogating the transponder and processing the replies.

The future of ICAS is linking the system with GPS (Global Positioning System) to escape the threat in a very effective manner, he informed.

UNI