An Empirical Analysis of the Causes of Air Crashes from a Transport Management Perspective

Aviation has changed into high level of operations technically, administratively and even technologically. This has been made possible with the introduction and manufacture of larger and faster aircrafts that greatly incorporates advanced information management technologies. With increase in the volume of traffic and the demand for air transportation, comes the risk and increase in air crashes. Causes of air crashes have been studied by various researchers and bodies. What this studied did was to examine causes of air crashes from all over the world and analyze them based on the locations of accidents to determine the causes of accidents in different locations. It was observed that certain regions were recorded to have similar causes of accidents and some others were prone to certain causes of accidents. North America had more cases of air crashes over other regions but when compared with the volume of traffic in this region one will understand why they had many more crashes than others. They can be adjudged to be safer than some other regions such as Asia and Africa.


Introduction
The aircraft is a machine that can fly in the air either carrying passengers and or goods. However, the air transport industry is seen as an area of commerce where aircrafts are used to transport people, cargo and mail at the cheapest costs yet with the best safety measures employed. The movement is only complete when there is "safe arrival". An aviation incident is defined as an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the safety of operations (AirSafe.com, 2009). The aviation industry is undoubtedly the safest, fastest and most comfortable mode of transportation. This is because safety and hospitality are too great features of the industry (Stephens, 2009). However, for one reason or another air crashes occur once in a while with severe consequences: loss if lives and valuable assets. When measured on a passenger-distance calculation, air travel is the safest form of transportation available: these figures are the ones mentioned by the air industry when quoting statistics on air safety. A typical statement is this one by the BBC: "UK airline operations are among the safest anywhere. When compared against all other modes of transport on a fatality per mile basis air transport is the safest -six times safer than traveling by car and twice as safe as rail." (Howstuffworks, 2012). However, should one measured by fatalities per person transported, buses are the safest form of transportation and the number of air travel fatalities per person is surpassed only by bicycles and motorcycles. This statistic is the one used by the insurance industry when calculating insurance rates for air travel. For every billion kilometers traveled, trains have a fatality rate 12 times larger than air travel, while automobiles have a fatality rate 62 times larger. On the other hand, for every billion journeys, buses are the safest form of transportation. By the last measure, air transportation is three times more dangerous than car transportation and almost 30 times more dangerous than bus (BBC News, 2000). After the crash of Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907, Brazilian Air Force personnel recover the flight data recorder of the flight. A 2007 study found that passengers sitting at the back of a plane are 40% more likely to survive a crash than those sitting in the front, although this article also quotes Boeing, the FAA and a website on aircraft safety, all claiming that there is no safest seat. The article studied 20 crashes, not taking in account the developments in safety after those accidents (Noland, 2007). However, a flight data recorder is usually mounted in the aircraft's empennage (tail section), where it is more likely to survive a severe crash. Over 95% of people in U.S. plane crashes between 1983 and 2000 survived (Watt, 2007). The frequency of occurrence of these air crashes is so low when compared with other modes of transport. This makes it mandatory for safety and security to be paramount in standard settings for airports, airlines, industry regulators and air users. Worldwide the safety and security of the aviation industry matters so much to governments as the bulk of air travellers is people that contributes greatly to wealth creation and owns the vast majority of world riches. This is particularly true in developing countries (Stephens et al, 2011) where less than five percent of the population uses air transport and these same set of people hold over eighty percent of the wealth in these economies. Stephens (2009) also forecasted the growth of the industry in Nigeria to be on a gradual rise as more people in Nigeria are able to afford air tickets due to the deregulation and increased competition. This trend is expected worldwide and this now brings to fore, again, the fear of air crashes as it is expected that developing economies and those emerging and rapidly adopting air transportation a mode of choice to travel (more domestically) as many of these nations may be ill-equipped to hand the expected surge in air travels and its safety measures demand.
Ability to know the causes of air crashes and disasters will go in a long way to prevent or reduce greatly their occurrence. The knowledge of causes in other countries' aviation industries is equally important to ascertain if there is any similarity in pattern/causes.

Objective of the study
The purpose of the study is to examine the causes of the numerous air crashes in the world since 1929 till 2011. Sub-objectives The followings are sub-objectives that drive this study: i.
To ascertain which regions are more prone to certain causes of air crashes. ii.
To examine the different causes of air crashes over time. iii.
To examine the different causes of air crashes on regional bases.

Research Questions
Air crashes take place once in a while and when it does, it affects every facet of the economy either directly or indirectly. This study will attempt to answer the following questions: i. What are the different causes of air crashes? ii. Which regions are more prone to certain causes of air crashes?

Significance of the study
No previous studies of air crashes had tried to relate air crashes happening in different areas of the world over time with those in other areas. The study highlights causes of accidents or air crashes and tied same to the locations of crashes or (origins and destinations) enabling a comparism along the lines of place and times of occurrence. This will expose the regional differences in the causes of air crashes. A safe aviation industry is a great boost to the world economy.

Design of the Study
The research is designed to: i. ascertain which regions are more prone to certain causes of air crashes; ii.
examine the different causes of air crashes over time; iii.
examine the different causes of air crashes on regional bases

Area of Study
The study covered the whole world, spanning a period between 1920 and 2011 considering air crashes occurrences.

Method of Data Collection
Research data were sourced from different international bodies in the aviation industry for records that covered 1920 to 2011.

Data Analytical Tools
To analyze the data generated simple measures of dispersal were used and results were tabulated and displayed in simple illustrative format for easy understanding and comprehension.

Limits and limitations
The research work is limited to the availability of information as regards the records of air crashes.

Causes of air accidents and records of air accidents
Accidents records taking started about the 1920s and records. Many studies have been done on causes of air crashes. Clever (2009) in his study listed the following as the causes of air crashes: i. Sabotage ii.
Bird strike iii.
Mechanical Failure iv.
Bad Weather v.
Fuel Starvation vi.
Improper loading of aircraft viii.
Improper maintenance procedures ix.
Design flaw x.
Pilot shoot by passenger 'Mechanical Failure' was used by Clever (2009) in his study but was replaced by 'Design Flaw' which was made to include 'Mechanical Failure'. 'Improper Maintenance Procedures' was dropped because. 'Pilot Incapacitation' was used in this study and it covered the killing of pilot by passenger. in this study the causes of air crashes were limited to: i. Lightening ii.
Design flaw iii.
Sabotage and Explosive Devices iv.
Fuel Starvation v.
Cargo Hold and Cabin Fire vi.
Air Traffic Control (ATC) Errors ix.
Bird Strike x. Unknown     An examination of causes of air crashes over the years showed that during the formative years, fuel starvation, design flaws and lightening were major reasons for crashes. Then, the manufacturing of aircrafts and technologies involved were not as perfected as they have turned out to be now. Pilots then can underestimate the volume of fuel needed for flights. Also the materials used for making the outer casing of the fuselages were not of the same technology as we have them today (see tables 3 and 4 and the corresponding figures).  With time the focal cause of air crashes moved from what it were in the formative era of the industry to human-based causes that were intentional whether for political reasons or some other courses that is extraneous to the industry. These included sabotage/explosive devices and hijacking that results in fatalities. There were those that were caused by human too but non-intentional like ATC errors pilot incapacitation. Table 5 (and the corresponding figure) depicts this era. The growth of the industry greatly increased after the crisis of the 1970s occasioned by unrest and wars in the Mideast that led to increased fuel cost. The growth could significantly attributed to (though other factors were involved) the introduction of longer distance capable jumbo jets which also offers increase capacity.
This technological advancement was significant in the industry and led to the growth of some airports to becoming major global players as hubs and transit points. Sabotage, fuel starvation, hijacking were still dominant causes of air crashes in this period (see table 6 and the corresponding figure). One would have expected fuel starvation to drop as a major cause of disasters but the lure of the new jumbo jets and their ability to make longer trips led to errors in fuel estimation for long distance flights.  Hijacking was still prominent because even though the wars were over, the disputes and issues that led to the wars were not resolved. ATC errors increased with time (see tables 5 and 6 and the corresponding figures) and this could not be unexpected as increased traffic requires improvement traffic management, technologies and understanding. Design flaw was responsible for 7.69% of causes of air crashes between 1980 and 1999. Many crashes during this period were mid-air collision involving two aircrafts and malfunctioning of devices in the aircrafts. Flaws were seen in the inability of the aircrafts on course for head-on collision to communicate with each other particularly when in auto-pilot mode and the non-standardization of measuring devices and calibration in all aircraft. And since then aircrafts made since mid-1990s now come ability to communicate with each other using a binary system to avoid head-on collision. In addition, calibrations and units of measurements are now standardized.    However, that trend may be changing with the increase in affluence and disposable income being witnessed in Asia and in China in particular. China will have more flights with time than any other nation but their poorly developed aviation industry, like most their economy at large, which geared towards rapid expansion and poor safety and economic regulations could mean more air crashes in the Asia.  African being almost evenly divided by the equator and within the tropics would have been expected to have more air crashes caused by lightening but that was not the case because the level of air transport traffic and activities in this region is small but growing and not up to what is obtainable in other regions. Europe recorded the most for this cause followed by North America (see table 9 and figure 9). Worthy of note is the fact that air crashes caused by lightening has greatly reduced and since the year 2000 till time of this research no air crash was caused by lightening.   Source: Research work Figure 11: Air crash distribution caused by sabotage/explosive device .

Source: Research work
The Israeli/Palestinian dispute over for land and the tension caused by the various political differences in the in the Middle-East made the western states and their aircrafts easy targets for sabotage/explosion. That is why Europe, Asia and North America led in the air crashes caused by sabotage/explosion (see table11 and figure 11). Europe had the most share of the world partly due to its close proximity to the "hot spot": Middle-East and agitations for self-determinations in some states in the region like Basque in the South and north of France and Spain respectively; the IRA in Northern Ireland and the Kurdish rebels in the eastern Turkey. Source: Research work Figure 12: Air crash distribution caused by fuel starvation .

Source: Research work
Starvation can be expected for long distance trips/flights where pilots would believer the fuel they carry can see them through to the next point of call, whereas the fuel might not be enough. North America had the highest level of share of crashes caused by fuel starvation most of which were recorded in the infancy stage of the aviation industry (see tables 3 and 12 and figure 12). Asia came second in this aspect and theirs too could be attributed to high levels recorded during infancy of the industry and miscalculations in the later stages. North America and Europe still had the highest share of crashes caused by cargo hold/cabin fire (table 13 and figure 13). This is basically due to the volume of air traffic in these regions. Asia, particularly the Far East might overtake America due to the strong growth of the industry in this region most especially is the safety regulatory standards in the region are not improved.

710
Pilot incapacitation and ATC errors as causes of air crashes showed North America and Europe to have most shares of these causes (tables 15 and 16, figures 15 and 16). This could be purely due to the high volume of traffic in these regions. African share was however seen to be rather high for ATC which could be tied to the rapidly growth of the industry in the region. The region need to keep training its operatives to meet the latest and best practices as obtainable in regions with best safety records.   (table 17 and figure 17). This cause of air crashes was seen to be lesser at the infancy stage of the industry but steadily increased with time (see tables 3-7)  Migratory birds abounds in all these regions and results for Africa particularly placed it in stronger position as it lies in the path of flights of migratory birds moving from the temperate regions in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Conclusion
Being faced with increased demand for air transportation the reduction of the air crashes and accident is very important. However, who will foot the bill? The US general Accounting Office, GAO (1997) called for more government-industry partnerships. Government, the industry and the traveling public would likely share in these costs reduction.