By Andy Pasztor
Midair collision hazards have emerged as a significant safety
issue across Central and South America, decades after technology
aboard airliners was supposed to practically eliminate such
threats.
Leaders of a Latin American industry-government safety panel on
Tuesday disclosed that planes heading potentially dangerously close
to each other, prompting airborne collision warnings, recently were
included as one of the region's top aviation dangers. The change
was discussed at an international conference in Abu Dhabi sponsored
by the Flight Safety Foundation, a global, nonprofit advocacy
organization.
Gerardo Hueto, a senior Boeing Co. safety engineer and co-chair
of the regional safety panel, told the gathering that the rate of
midair-collision warnings has increased slightly over the past few
years in airspace stretching from the Caribbean to Latin America.
"There haven't been any accidents," he said, but the trend is
worrisome and such hazards were added to the regional panel's
priority action items.
Tuesday's presentation underscored that airlines operating over
Latin America are touching off more airborne collision warnings
than expected. By some counts, the past three years have averaged
one warning for roughly every 1,500 airliner flights in the
region.
Loretta Martin, the panel's other co-chair and the top official
in Latin America for the United Nations' air-safety arm, said after
the session that "we don't like to see an upward trend" and experts
will analyze the reasons.
The regional panel is supported by the U.N.'s International
Civil Aviation Organization, along with airplane manufacturers,
equipment makers, pilot groups and others.
The comments were surprising because in the past few years,
neither the ICAO nor other prominent safety groups have singled out
midair collision dangers as a top concern in any regions except
Africa and Afghanistan. Many African countries lack adequate
ground-based radars to track airlines flying over their territory,
while Afghanistan's government has struggled with financial and
staffing problems related to operating its air-traffic control
network.
The leading causes of fatal airliner accidents world-wide are
losing control of aircraft and flying perfectly functioning planes
into mountains or other terrain, typically at night or in bad
weather. Global accident rates for Western-built jets currently
hover around a record low of one crash per roughly five million
flights.
Ms. Martin and Mr. Hueto didn't provide details about the
location or timing of incidents, and they didn't mention specifics
of any close calls.
The collision-avoidance systems alert pilots about nearby
aircraft and, in extreme cases, issue automated commands to
immediately climb or descend to avoid hitting other planes. As long
as both aircraft involved are equipped with the latest systems and
pilots follow required procedures, collision-warning equipment is
considered virtually foolproof in preventing airborne collisions.
Pilots are trained to initiate avoidance maneuvers without first
checking with controllers on the ground.
Midair collision threats in Latin America sparked a public
outcry in 2006, when a U.S. business jet collided with a Brazilian
airliner over the Amazon. All 154 people aboard the Boeing 737,
operated by Gol Transportes Aéreos, died in the crash, while the
business jet landed safely despite being damaged. Investigators
determined the smaller plane's crew inadvertently turned off their
midair collision-warning system.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
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