Hills are biggest air-travel risk
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Your support makes all the difference.AIR TRAVELLERS are most likely to die in planes that smash into high ground such as the side of a mountain because of mistakes by pilots or crew, according to a survey.
Research into the 620 fatal air accidents since 1980 has isolated the most likely ways for passengers to meet their death and the most frequent causes. The world-wide study by the Civil Aviation Authority, the safety regulator of UK-registered planes and British airspace, found two-thirds of crashes were due to crew error.
At a meeting of UK airline bosses tomorrow the CAA will tell them the seven most likely circumstances behind accidents where passengers are killed. These are, in order of priority:
Controlled flight into terrain - mainly high ground such as mountains or hillsides;
Approach and landing accidents - a large number of accidents take place as a plane nears the runway;
Loss of control - pilot error or a failure of on-board systems;
Design-related accidents, including failures in plane design;
Weather-related accidents, including flying into bad weather against advice;
Occupant safety and survivability - failures in design or defects that prevent passengers leaving aircraft after a crash;
Mid-air collision, something that has not occurred in UK-controlled airspace.
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