When warm mist evaporates, it falls into colder, drier stable air below in a frontal system forming frontal fog. However, frontal fog is categorized into three: frontal-passage fog, cold front post-frontal fog, and warm front pre-frontal fog. The pre-and post-frontal fog is caused when it rains in cold air, therefore, making the dew point rise. However, the frontal passage fog is formed when air masses, both warm and cold, get mixed by light winds in the frontal zones. In another instance, the mist can be created in low-latitude summer, especially when evaporated rainwater from the frontal passage settles on the surface and cools it or when overlying air adds enough moisture to form fog. Frontal fog causes significant hazards within the aviation industry because the effects reach many parts and last for many hours. In 2010, on Jan 23, there was a complex frontal system that produced moist and warm air that formed in the eastern half of the United States, particularly through the Ohio Valley and into the Midwest, which reported cases of fog and low ceilings. Visibilities of a quarter mi for nine hours were written by the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport (Brotak, 2010). In another instance, Mason City municipal airport reported a half mi (805 m) visibility in fog. Accidents in aviation that are caused by frontal fog are most likely fatal. Frontal fog played a considerable role when two Boeing 747s in Tenerife, Canary Islands, collided and was considered the worst aviation disaster of all time. The weather was fine until moments before the accident when there was a dense fog in the airport terminal, making the Pan Am crew miss their assigned turnoff. The fog contributed to the collision since the two planes only saw each other when they were too late and were approaching rapidly and therefore couldn't avoid the collision. The pilots of the KLM Flight 747 crew misunderstood the route of the clearance and decided to take off the jet. The Pan AM flight deck only saw KLM 747’s light emerges from the fog 2,000 feet away, and it was approaching quickly. They tried to turn the plane off the runway at the same time as the KLM pilots tried to pull back on the elevators to get the aircraft airborne. The KLM 747's undercarriage hit the Pan Am plane's midsection as it was taking off. This led to the crash that took the lives of 583 people.
Reference
Brotak, E. (2010, June 9). Obscured by Fog. Retrieved from FLIGHTOPS: https://flightsafety.org/asw/jun10/asw_jun10_p28-31.pdf
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