By K. R. Wadhwaney
AVIATION experts, scientists and anthropologists are currently engaged in determining whether cultural differences come in to play in air disasters in this age of maddening tension.
The survey on the cultural differences and world aviation safety has been undertaken after the Boeing Commercial Group hinted that culture could be a player in accidents.
According to the study, which, Of course, needs in-depth and detailed analysis, countries with a high rate of individualism have Tow accident rates, while countries Where people in lower positions tend to depend more on superiors have high accident rates ‘This observation, in the initial survey, has been made on the basis of the rate of accident., per million Takeoff. The USA, Australia, Britain, (Canada, New Zealand and many ‘West European countries are said to have the lowest accidents rates, while India along with Japan, Brail, Iran. Greece, Argentina, Turkey and Greece fall in middle category. Latin American countries and some from Asia like Pakistan, (China South Korea and Thailand are rated to be the most prone areas for accidents.
“We are not handing this up as the holy Grail”, said Boeing spokesman Randy Harrison stressing that the company was relying on someone else’s research and that numerous other factors have a bearing on aviation safety.
‘The present thinking in the aviation industry is that instead of analyzing reasons for accident, it will be more meaningful 10 prevent accidents from taking place. This is the Boeing theme, entitled: “Removing Links in Accident Chain”
According to aviation expert, if rules and norms governing aviation are not broken, there would ‘almost be no accident”. It has been established that most of the accidents take place while (1) taking off (2) landing and (3) on the mountainous terrain.
All these accidents take place not because of malfunctioning of the machinery or equipment but because of the pilot error. Here, the importance of the copilot has got to be realized. If he is technically sound, knowledgeable, alert and provides his support, the chances of accidents will be considerable reduce. But if the commander has no faith or confidence in the copilot or if the two are not exactly friendly, the mishap is bound to ‘occur, in recent accidents in India, two main functionaries m the cockpit have failed ‘to work as 4 team.
The experts say, or rather the survey points out, that 73.7 per cent accidents are related to the flight crew. If this is true, then the aviation authority’s world over, particularly in India, must undertake effective measures for errors and commissions on parts of commanders to reduce for the safety of the passengers.
Apart from the “thin chain’ leading to error and thereby a mishap on the part of the commander, there are many other contributory factors such as ill-equipped airports in adequate navigational aids, insufficient weather reports, cumbersome crew procedure indifferent maintenance, defective design and lack of proper inspection.
While aviation, as a ‘whole, has made tremendous progress in the last two decades there is an urgent need for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to formulate more strict rules for a defence to them by all officials concerned. In India, for example, two sets of rules are observed one for influential and well-connected pilots and another for other persons.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 25, 1994
