QZ8501 may be typical of a new type of risk with aviation

Accidents that occurred with airplanes flying through the tropics or subtropics, such as the December QZ8501 disaster, are happening at sufficient frequency to force the airline industry to supplement its risk information. .

The French Accident Investigation Agency (BEA) has warned of the need to prepare pilots how to control aircraft at high altitudes, when announcing reports of the Air France 447 crash in 2012. So Compared to QZ8501's case last month, this issue has clearly become a weakness of airline operations.

The image of the QZ8501 body under the seabed of Java by an underwater operating remote control device (ROV) of the Singapore Navy MV Swift Rescue on January 14.(Photo: Reuters)

However, Indonesian investigators have officially announced that they have not published a preliminary report according to the actual QZ8501. Therefore, operators may have to wait up to two more years before knowing if BEA's concerns are reflected in this case.

There are three air accidents in the past 10 years that can be compared to the QZ8501 disaster on the Java Sea. They were Swiftair / Air Algerie's McDonnell Douglas MD-80, respectively, lost contact in Mali in July 2014, and Air France's AF447 flight crashed in the South Atlantic in June 2009 and an aircraft in West Caribbean Airways MD-80 line encountered the Caribbean Sea in August 2005.

All four cases occur when airplanes fly through tropical or subtropical regions and pilots are shifting to avoid bad weather. The aircraft were out of control and no crew members made emergency calls.

Fragment of Air Algerie aircraft disordered at the scene in July 2014.(Photo: AFP)

Considering further time, there were no accidents with similar circumstances, though flights during that time also flew through the tropics as they are now. Thus tropical weather seems to be the "modern" factor causing an accident , while the loss of flight control (LOC-I) today is considered by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to be risky. aviation is the largest for life, as opposed to before the 1990s.

There is an unusual similarity between AirAsia and Air France aircraft problems encountered in two accidents. Both pilots unexpectedly chose to increase the altitude, with the estimated level of 1.8km / minute and 2.1km / minute for QZ8501 and AF447, at the height of which the aircraft could meet the requirements The pilots set out are unimaginable. The plane in the AF447 was completely dead for 46 seconds and the crew did not perform the engine recovery process.

When announcing recommendations for pilot training, the BEA provides a list of actions to be taken. These include high-level, low-level fatal recovery training, alternate flight practice (ALT), practice with parameters that are close to the permissible level of danger, performing flight exercises to check whether the pilot understands the aerodynamic principle in practice as well as in theory, including an unexpected incident in the context of regular training to prepare pilots, individuals as well as crew, to calmly react to the unexpected.

Salvage the rear wing of Air France aircraft at sea.(Photo: Reuters)

BEA pointed out that, if the auto mode had problems, as in the case of AF447, pilots would have no other choice. Therefore, they should be noted in the simulation model of how to behave in this case.

On many online forums, pilots also mentioned "Coffin Corner" , the term for limited height where many interfering elements make the plane lose control and become susceptible to free fall in a straight line. stand. However, according to BEA, they need to be aware of what to do when the limit is intentionally violated, because restoring the engine's operation is almost entirely possible if the procedure is applied correctly.