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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0249.PDF
liSIIHwffl«?fflMlpw1lJI;-;ii; sut *w Commercial flight safety: 1984 reviewed Fewer people were killed travelling with the world's airlines last year than in any year since the days when air travellers were numbered in hundreds rather than millions. Only 101 people died in accidents involving the Western world's .bigger airliners on scheduled passenger flights. It took a bad 1984 for the commuter and regional airlines to push the Western civil passenger carrier fatali ties total to about 275. Even when an unfortunate Aeroflot accident, and crew deaths in cargo and ferrying flights, are added, the fatalities record is uniquely low at 448. None of the world's major airlines had a fatal accident last year, though a few significant but smaller scheduled inter national carriers did. The previous year in which accident statistics came anywhere near the 1984 figures was in 1975, when the fatalities total was about 500. The 1983 total losses were 1,202 killed, but if accidents involving hostile action (KAL 007) or possible sabotage are excluded, then the figure is about 700. An average annual passenger fatalities total for the years 1964-1983 for scheduled FLIGHT DATA This Flight review, by David Learmount, is the first major compilation of 1984 accident and incident data for the world's air transport fleet. airlines (Icao contracting states excluding the USSR) would be in the region of 750, according to Icao figures. Nine of 1984's fatal crashes happened when, in poor visibility and bad weather, pilots persisted with a non-radar descent among hills or carried on with a runway approach which ought to have been aban doned. Fuelling piston-engined aircraft with jet fuel caused two fatal accidents. These are prime examples of human misjudgement. But one of the most worrying facts to emerge from this year's statistics is that there were 18 turbine engine failures, most Qantas has been the international flag carrier for the world's safest aviation nation for a long time. For safety rankings see J. M. Ramsden's feature on page 29. of them uncontained and leading to external damage and fire. Because this summary was compiled so soon after the end of the reported year, we know that the engine failure incidents which we have heard about are only the tip of the iceberg. Seven of these engine failures occurred in the "big fans", the type of engines which may soon be allowed to power twin-jet airliners across oceans, possibly with new rules about how far they may stray from land. To be fair to them, though, six of the "big fan" failures recorded here occurred on take-off or in the climb—only one of them in the cruise. Accident data have been gathered from Flight's own sources and from the UK. Civil Aviation Authority's World Airline Accident Summary. We have received some criticism of our policy of publishing those non-fatal incidents we learn about, because information on this kind of incident is not normally available in many parts of the world. But we intend to continue to publish them because airlines tell us there is much to be learned from those relatively few that we publish. We accept that our incidents list is weighted unfairly against British and US airlines because news of their problems is more readily accessible. FATAL ACCIDENTS: SCHEDULED PASSENGER FLIGHTS Date Carrier Aircraft Location Total Fatalities Occupants Crew Pass Crew Pass Phase Circumstances Jan 10 Aug 5 Aug 30 Oct 15 Balkan Bulgarian Bangladesh Biman Cameroon Aeroflot TU-134A (L2-TURI F.27 (SZ-ABJ) 737 (TJ-CBD) Tu-154 Sofia Dacca Douala Omsk, USSR 5 4 *. 45 45 2 5 4 8 45 RA 45 L 108 G all on board approx 150 L Crashed on approach in snow. Misjudged landing in heavy rain, turbulence, and poor visibility. Crashed half a mile beyond runway. No. 2 engine HP compressor ruptured fuel tank, and fire followed. Aircraft crashed into a fuel bowser which was on the runway. FATAL ACCIDENTS: Date Carrier Mar 24 Frigorifico NON-SCHEDULED PASSENGER FLIGHTS Aircraft Location DC-4 Beni, Bolivia (CP-1206) Fatalities Crew Pass 3 2 Total Occupants Crew Pass ? Phase Circumstances TO Crashed shortly after take-off in bad weather. TO Take-off; C Climb; ER En route; AA Airfield approach; RA Runway approach; L Landing; G On ground. FLIGHT International, 26 January 1985 35
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