CAP 763

CAP 763 Aviation Safety Review 2005
Worldwide Fatal Accidents
Rank
Causal factor
% of fatal accidents
involving factor
1 Crew - lack of positional awareness - in air 30%
2 Crew - omission of action/inappropriate action 28%
3 Crew - flight handling 25%
4 Crew - poor professional judgement/airmanship 18%
5 Engine - engine failure or malfunction 15%
- Not allocated with a causal factor 11%
Table 2.4
Top five causal factors
3.16.2 At least one causal factor was allocated to 89% of the jet and turboprop fatal
accidents and the five causal factors shown in Table 2.4 were present in
approximately 70% of fatal accidents.
3.17 Top five circumstantial factors
3.17.1 A circumstantial factor is an event or item that the AAG judged not to be directly in
the causal chain of events but its presence may be of interest in the understanding of
fatal accidents.
3.17.2 At least one circumstantial factor was allocated to 83% of the jet and turboprop fatal
accidents between 1995 and 2004. The accidents were analysed to establish the top
five circumstantial factors and the results are shown in Table 2.5. It should be noted
that more than one circumstantial factor can be applied to an individual accident. The
five circumstantial factors displayed in the table were present in 75% of fatal
accidents.
Rank
Circumstantial factor
% of fatal accidents
involving factor
1 Crew - failure in CRM (cross-check/co-ordinate) 33%
2 Aircraft systems - non-fitment of presently available safety equipment 32%
3 Environmental - poor weather 29%
4 Infrastructure - inadequate regulatory oversight 26%
5 Environmental - poor visibility or lack of external visual reference 26%
- Not allocated with a circumstantial factor 17%
Table 2.5
Top five circumstantial factors
8 August 2006
Chapter 2 Page 12