Standards for passenger evacuation from aircraft not upated finds USA audit.

-
Image
The current standard is to demonstrate that the aircraft can be evacuated by all passengers in 90 seconds using half the exits. There have been increasing number of evacuations where it has been observed that the pasengers were carrying their personal belogings or delaying the evacuation to collect their belongings.The test scenario is conducted with motivated volunteers who have been briefed on the scenario. However a real evacuation with changing passenger profile will present different challenges.FAA largely updates its evacuation standards only after accidents, and its last update that was based on an accident occurred in 1991. FAA also has not conducted sufficient research on passenger behaviors and seat dimensions to determine how they affect evacuation standards. Furthermore, FAA does not collect comprehensive data from evacuations or data from aircraft model certifications to identify emerging risks and needs for regulation updates.Read the full report here FAA’s Process for U…
Post a comment

IndiGo flight followed a similar flight pattern and landed safely before the ill-fated Air India Express crashed

-

An IndiGo AT-72 turboprop landed at Kozhikode airport 01hr45min prior to the ill-fated Air India Express B-737.  The IndiGo ATR followed a similar flight profile befoe landing on the easterly direction runway 10 at the airport.

The IndiGo ATR too attempted to land on the westerly runway 28 but discontinued the approach. The reason could be due to poor visibility in rain and/or low clouds obscuring the pilots vision in an attempt to acquire visual references of the landing runway.

The second attempt was carried out on the easterly runway 10, same as the Air India Express. 

At the time of landing, the prevailing visibility in rain was between 1500m-2000m. The instrument landing system which guides the aircraft through electronic ground based transmitter signals to 250 feet above ground requires the visibility of atleast 1300m or more.

The IndiGo ATR may have faced less severe weather and the slower turboprop may have been more forgiving. Nevertheless, this pattern can provide some interesting insights about the prevailing conditions and the interactions with the air traffic controller, who is the only eye and ears of the pilots on the ground.

Comments

  1. Anonymous9 August 2020 at 12:28

    You have not accounted for the Vertical and Horizontal profile of both the aircraft

    ReplyDelete

Post a comment

Popular posts from this blog

Etihad incident at Calicut,June'19, highlighted airport infrastructure issues. This could have been the wakeup call!

-
Image
Two incidents that could have saved the Air India Express accident at Khozikode. Unfortunately, no one acted on the concerns raised by the GCAA investigators. Isn't it criminal negligence?
SynopsisFirst SpiceJet Q400 runway excursion in rain, August 2017 and now on 20June2019, an Etihad Airways, Airbus A320-232, registrationA6-EIT, operated a scheduled passenger flight EY250, from Abu Dhabi International Airport, the United Arab Emirates,to Calicut International Airport, India. During the ILS approach to runway 28, the flight crew initiated a go-around due to heavy rain over the runway as reported by air traffic control (ATC). Approximately 16 minutes later, the flight crew initiated a second instrument landing system(ILS)approach to runway 28. On landing, the Aircraft touched down to the right of the runway centerline, and the right main landing gear then struck five runway edge lights. The Commander was able to steer the Aircraft to the centerline and continue the landing roll u…
Read more

Much defended, Kozhikode Runway RESA & Runway Strip do not meet ICAO standards

-
Image
The Runway End Safety Area is mandated by ICAO in Annex 14 as a standard. Following is the definition:An area symmetrical about the extended runway centre line and adjacent to the end of the
strip primarily intended to reduce the risk of damage to an aeroplane undershooting or overrunning the runway.

Kozhikode airport design of the RESA has used the width of the turn pad at both ends of the runway to meet the 90m, double the width of the runway requirement of ICAO Annex-14. Unfortunately, ICAO  Annex-14 as per definition specifically defines RESA with the terms Extended Centerline and Symmetrical.This implies that RESA must extent 45m either side of the extended centerline all the way till 240m. The Kozhikode RESA does not meet the ICAO standard by 10 m.Technically if 10 m is significant, Kozhikode is not a RESA as per ICAO standards. Recommendation.— The width of a runway end safety area should, wherever practicable, be equal to that of the graded portion of the associated runway stri…
Read more