Safety in Aviation: Reducing Catastrophic Accidents - Essay Sample

Introduction

Safety in the aviation industry has remained to be one of the paramount needs that every airline, both privet, and the public, need to observer. Whereas the safety of the aircraft is essential to the passengers and the pilots on board, there is the need to observe proper regulations to help reduce any possible aviation accidents that are catastrophic. According to Lynch (2019), the National Transportation Safety Board is charged with investigating aviation accidents to help determine the possible causes that might have contributed to the colossal damages. As a result, the NTSB has played a significant role in determining the root cause of aviation accidents, making it possible to address possible future problems that may result in catastrophic aviation accidents. Thus the essay will critically elucidate the importance of the Safety Management Systems and the National Transportation Safety Board on curbing aviation accidents.

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The Accident

The Ethiopian airlines lost one of their BOEING 737 on March 10, 2019, due to an accident that occurred nearly after six minutes of take-off from Ethiopia Addis Ababa on its route to Nairobi Kenya. The plain crushed a few kilometers away from the airport as a result of the malfunctioning of the systems. According to Accou, and Reniers, (2019), the pilots in flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, registration ET-AVJ, experienced a technical failure, as the plain nosedived crashing and killing all 157 people aboard. As a result, many nations retaliated by grounding the airplane model, to help reduce similar incidences. As NTSB, (2020), the Ethiopian crash came in only six months after the 2018 October incident that involved, the Lion Air Flight 610 on a flight from Jakarta, Indonesia to Pangkal, Pinang, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

The Findings

According to Accou, and Reniers, (2019), the investigations on the Ethiopian flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, depicts similar traits as compared to the Lion Air Flight 610 crush. The investigations conducted by the Ethiopian government in conjunction with a U.S. Accredited Representative revealed that the Ethiopian crash was as a result of the aircraft design, rather than a human made error. As Accou, and Reniers, (2019) outlines, the NTSB has expressed significant concerns regarding safety management and prevention maintenance, a concept that has not been widely implemented by many airlines and aircraft manufactures. According to NTSB (2020) NTSB accident investigations have revealed that proper adherence to safety management systems (SMS) could have prevented the loss of lives in the Ethiopian airline. Even though many airlines and the manufacturers are slowly adhering to the safety management systems, their mistakes are costing human lives and loss of property. As NTSB, (2020) concludes, poor designing of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was the ultimate cause of the Ethiopian flight 302.

Further investigation on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 reveals that the aircraft model was designed to take-off in all airports, especially those with the shorter runway. The designing of the engine slightly above the wings gives the Boeing 737 MAX 8 enough lift consuming less fuel. However, the design of the model with its engines slightly closer to the body provides a significant problem, as the plane gains altitude, the nose remains projected upwards, a situation that can lead to a stall. However, Boeing decided to mitigate this concept by reengineering the model with a software (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) that would push the nose of the airplane down. The malfunctioning of the software soon compromised the performance of the model. The MCAS software forced the plane to nosedive, leading to the crash.

The Role of the NTSB and SMS Principles

Considering the malfunctioning of the MCAS on the Boeing 7373 MAX 8, many countries grounded the model from operating within their airspace. As a result, Safety Management Systems (SMS) outlined by the NTSB has been integrated into the model, with many airline pilots appealing for the aircraft manufacturers to reduce the levels of autonomy to help grant the pilots power to control the planes even in difficult moments.

The Safety management system comprises of four definitive principles, which help airlines provide safety. First and foremost, the policy helps to create awareness of operation, and how the staff members are willing to abide by the stipulated regulation to provide a safer environment. Secondly, the NTSB mandates that all plain manufactures to install systems that can handle risk management, through helping report major and minor errors, in the entire system.

Thirdly, the NTSB mandates that all installed system should be assurance by providing useful feedback that can be used to control the plane. Lastly, NTSB mandates the aircraft management should provide safety policy promotion continuously. According to Accou, and Reniers, (2019), one of the leading factors that have contributed to aviation accidents on the Boeing 737 MAX 8, was lack of proper training and promotion on safety issues to pilots, as most of them received a short cause video to train them, omitting most of the critical safety elements.

References

Accou, B., & Reniers, G. (2019). Developing a method to improve safety management systems based on accident investigations: The SAfety FRactal ANalysis. Safety science, 115, 285-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.02.016

Lynch, K. (2019). For Part 135, NTSB wants mandatory FDM and SMS. Aviation International News. https://www.library.northwestern.edu/find-borrow-request/requests-interlibrary-loan/lending-institutions.html

NTSB. (2020). DCA19RA101: Full Narrative. Ntsb.gov. Retrieved 2 March 2020, from https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20190310X63916&ntsbno=DCA19RA101&akey=1.