Safety and Air Navigation

Abstract

With the growth of public air transport, safety in the air is a matter of concern not just to those who design, manufacture and operate aircraft, but to the public at large. After an accident has occurred and an unfortunate chain of events leading to the accident is exposed, it may be easy to say ‘this accident should not have occurred’ or ‘would not have occurred if…’. Publication of annual totals brings forth informed and uninformed comment on the apparent decrease or increase in the accident rate relative to some criteria such as the number of passenger kilometres flown. The objective of this paper is to present a scientific account of the evidence on the relationship between navigation and air accidents and the implications of this evidence for those who are professionally concerned with air navigation. As will become evident, how-ever, there are factors operating which go much deeper than the technical aspects and appear to have their roots in human behaviour, not just of the individual but of organizations and society as a whole.