Risk Assessment Of Civil Aircraft During Operation

This book introduces safety and risk analysis methods for aircraft and aero-engines, design approaches for increasing safety and decreasing risk during operation, air traffic controllers’ attitudes to mistakes hazards, theories and models of human error occurrence during aircraft maintenance processes, and damage and failure analysis for composite structures.

Risk and safety are always considered to be the most critical operational characteristics of civil aircraft. Typically, they relate to the possible occurrence of air traffic collisions that could result in loss of life, damage to infrastructure, and damage to property by third parties. Consequently, in addition to other adverse effects such as noise, air pollution, they were deemed externalities. Risk and protection became topics of continuous study, ranging from purely technical/technological aspects to explicitly administrative ones, due to their inherent very high importance. Such concerns require the establishment of appropriate regulations regarding designs and operations of device technology. In order assess the risk, there are several methods which include: identification of safety concerns, analysis of the risk factors likelihood, analysis of the risk factors severity, and assessment and the admissibility of risk factors. And finally, reducing of the risk should be performed by three general strategies which are: avoidance of the risk, reduction of risk, and isolation of the exposure. These strategies are implemented based on efficiency, technical measures, controlled measures, staffing measures, cost/benefit, practicality, acceptability of each party, durability, residual risk factor for flights safety, and new challenges. With the advancement of technology, new methods of risk deduction and safety concerns are being developed to ensure safe and risk-free flight operation.

In this chapter, the risk assessment methods for aircraft system, structure, and aeroengine are investigated. For the aircraft system risk assessment, the probability level is divided into probable, improbable, and extremely improbable, and the hazard level of the failure condition is divided into minor, major, and catastrophic. Using Weibull analysis and Bayesian method to analyze the aircraft operation data, the risk level of aircraft system can be determined by combing methods provided in AC 25.1309-1A. For the aircraft structure risk assessment, the probability fracture mechanics approach can be used to determine the structure failure risk based on the data of material properties, environment, inspection, and so on. For the aeroengine risk assessment, the methods for classification of failure risk level, determination of hazard ratio, and calculation of the risk factor and risk per flight are given. The risk assessment process for aeroengine multi-failure modes based on the Monte Carlo simulation is presented to predict the occurrence of the failure and assess the failure risk.

The International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) decision to require aviation organizations to adopt Safety Management Systems poses a major problem especially for small and medium sized aviation companies. The complexity of regulations overstrains the aviation stakeholders who seek to fully advantage from them but have no clear guidance. The aim of the book is to show the implementation of such a new system with pragmatic effort in order to gain a gradation for smaller operators. This approach should illustrate the leeway in order to adapt the processes and to show the interfaces between Corporate Risk Management and Safety Management. The book shows how to build a system with reasonable effort, appropriate to the size and complexity of the specific operator. It also gives inputs on the key aspects and how to effectively operate such a system with the various interfaces. Furthermore, the book highlights the importance of Corporate Risk Management independent of Safety Management Systems based on ICAO.

This book provides a comprehensive content for professionals engaged in the development of flight safety regulatory framework, as well as in the design and operation of ground-based or on-board flight support radio electronic systems. It presents mathematical tools and methods of probabilistic theory, mathematical statistics and graph theory, along with some provisions of decision-making theory and multi-criteria analysis. This book helps as a good guide for those involved in aviation risk assessment and air traffic management.

This book analyses the models for major risks related to flight safety in the aviation sector and presents risk estimation methods through examples of several known aviation enterprises. The book provides a comprehensive content for professionals engaged in the development of flight safety regulatory framework as well as in the design and operation of ground-based or on-board flight support radio electronic systems. The book is also useful for senior students and postgraduates in aviation specialties, especially those related to air traffic management.

This book provides a solution to “rare event” problems without using the classical theory of reliability and theory of probability. This solution is based on the methodology of risk assessment as “measure of danger” (in keeping with the ICS RAS) and an expert approach to determining systems’ safety indications using Fuzzy Sets methods. Further, the book puts forward a new concept: “Reliability, Risks, and Safety” (RRS). The book’s main goal is to generalize present results and underscore the need to develop an alternative approach to safety level assessment and risk management for technical (aviation) systems in terms of Fuzzy Sets objects, in addition to traditional probabilistic safety analysis (PSA). The concept it proposes incorporates ICAO recommendations regarding proactive system control and the system’s responses to various internal and external disturbances.

When discussing the risk of introducing drones into the National Airspace System, it is necessary to consider the increase in risk to people in manned aircraft and on the ground as well as the various ways in which this new technology may reduce risk and save lives, sometimes in ways that cannot readily be accounted for with current safety assessment processes. This report examines the various ways that risk can be defined and applied to integrating these Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It also identifies needs for additional research and developmental opportunities in this field.

Every day in the United States, over two million men, women, and children step onto an aircraft and place their lives in the hands of strangers. As anyone who has ever flown knows, modern flight offers unparalleled advantages in travel and freedom, but it also comes with grave responsibility and risk. For the first time in its history, the Federal Aviation Administration has put together a set of easy-to-understand guidelines and principles that will help pilots of any skill level minimize risk and maximize safety while in the air. The Risk Management Handbook offers full-color diagrams and illustrations to help students and pilots visualize the science of flight, while providing straightforward information on decision-making and the risk-management process.