The GAJSC’s latest report, the Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) Working Group is now available online HERE! The GAJSC analyzes aviation safety data to identify emerging issues and develop mitigation strategies to address and prioritize safety issues. The GAJSC previously investigated CFIT accidents in 2000, which placed focus on equipping GA airplanes with — and use of — terrain awareness systems and GPS, as well as emphasized pilot training. Although the overall trend for CFIT events is encouraging, there were twenty-two fatal CFIT airplane accidents in the last five years (2016–2020).
In 2018, the GAJSC chartered the CFIT working group to develop data-driven recommendations (called Safety Enhancements) to mitigate the risk of fatal CFIT accidents. The working group was comprised of subject matter experts from a wide range of aviation organizations representing pilots, manufacturers, training providers, government, and academia. To develop the CFIT Safety Enhancements, the working group reviewed NTSB accident reports from sixty-seven CFIT events, following a recommendation-development process that is also used by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) and the US Helicopter Safety Team (USHST). The CFIT working group continued its work through unique challenges, including a US federal government shutdown and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The GASJC is proud to release the CFIT Working Group Report. New GAJSC recommendations described in the report include expanding the weather camera network (SE 12 R1); augmented visual technology for GA (SE-51); WINGS program overhaul (SE 52); addressing pressure to complete a mission (SE 53); and evaluating UIMC escape training (SE 56). Read all of the recommendations and learn more about their implementation on the GAJSC’s CFIT page HERE.
The GAJSC’s next working group is focused on mitigating System Component Failure Non-Powerplant (SCF-NP) events.