It is a fact that aviation technology continues to advance. Some of the improvements that have been witnessed have been a reaction to major disasters affecting the industry. Better and safer aircraft are a result of technological advances including fuel-efficient engines and lighter carbon fiber materials. Fatal accidents have as well forced significant design changes further improving aircraft safety and loss of lives. Mid-air collisions are aviation accidents where two or more aircraft come into contact accidentally during flight (Schiffner, Perez, & Srinivasan, 2016). The severity of such mishaps is higher than other general aviation accidents owing to the relatively high velocities of the aircraft.
Mid-air collisions are a result of issues such as miscommunication, pilot deviation from flight plans, errors in navigation, inadequate collision avoidance systems or lack of situational awareness (Molander & Jonsson, 2015). In general, mid-air collisions are a rare occurrence, estimated at less than four happenings per year. This could be due to the vastness of open space available for aircraft. It has been established, however, that most of the aircraft collisions happen at or near airports where there are several aircraft close together compared to a general flight.
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Another factor causing midair collisions is an increase in the cockpit workload which restricts the team from monitoring the outside. Additionally, several instruction flights or even several pilots can lead to such accidents since attentiveness can be transferred to the other pilot (Gavrilets, Kirchner, Allen, & Wu, 2019). Weather conditions cannot be included as causes of midair collisions since before any flight, meteorological conditions must be appropriate for visual flight rules (VFR) flying. On the other hand, qualifications, age or flying experience of pilots cannot be relied on to minimize the midair collisions (La Cour-Harbo, & Schiøler, 2018). Insufficient training, however, is an aggravating factor in regard to midair collisions.
References
Gavrilets, V., Kirchner, W. T., Allen, K. M., & Wu, A. D. (2019). U.S. Patent No. 10,332,409 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
La Cour-Harbo, A., & Schiøler, H. (2018). Probability of low altitude midair collision between general aviation and unmanned aircraft. Risk Analysis .
Molander, S., & Jonsson, J. (2015). U.S. Patent No. 8,970,401 . Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Schiffner, I., Perez, T., & Srinivasan, M. V. (2016). Strategies for pre-emptive mid-air collision avoidance in budgerigars. PloS one , 11 (9), e0162435.
