Emergency Landing: Tecnam P-2008 Crashes in Baramati

• Aircraft: Tecnam P-2008 and it belongs to Redbird Flight Training Academy of Baramati.
• The aircraft crashed while making an emergency landing, which was required due to a technical snag in the aircraft. 
• Second Crash Incident: Previous incident had occurred on October 19.

Understanding Aviation Accidents in Baramati: Causes and Impact

• Definition: An aviation accident is defined as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place between boarding to disembarkment, leading to injury to passengers or the aircraft sustains significant damage or the aircraft goes missing.

Understanding Aviation Accidents in Baramati: Causes and Impact

• Human Errors: Majority of aviation accidents are caused by human error, leading to accidents that can cause loss of human lives.
  • Human error can be both inside the cockpit as well as in the control tower. Pilot fatigue can be a major reason for human error.
• Weather Conditions: Statistics show that on an average aircrafts suffer two lightning strikes every year. This can damage sensors and the aircraft body.
  • Other weather conditions responsible for accidents include cross winds, storms, heavy rainfall/snow, mist etc. These weather events affect judgment of pilots or lead to failure of equipment. 
• Bird Hits: Bird hits have previously caused accidents of aircrafts. Bird hits can cause engine failure or damage an aircraft body.
• Failure of Machinery: An aircraft is a collection of machinery, held together through connections. Failure of even a small component can lead to a big catastrophe.
• Terrorist Attacks: Previous to adoption of stringent security protocol, aircrafts were vulnerable to acts of terrorism. This also led to some of the largest loss of human lives.
• Fire Incidents: Being full of electrical components, occurrence of short circuit is quite common in aircraft. Such incidents can lead to large fires that damage equipment as well as cause loss of lives.
• Runway Safety: Runways have to be built under certain standards. Any deviation from set standards can lead to crashes during landing.
• Military Action: In some cases, aircrafts have been attacked during wartime as well as peacetime. Due to miscommunication, such incidents have led to major disasters.

Global Aviation Disasters: Tragic Incidents and Unresolved Mysteries – A Lesson for Baramati Incident 

• 9/11 Attack: The largest human fatalities in history of aircraft incident were during the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City. People onboard the aircraft as well as on ground lost lives.
• Japan Airlines Flight 123: Largest number of people losing lives onboard a single aircraft occurred when Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed in 1985.
• Air India Kanishka Bombing: Air India Flight 182, known as Kanishka crashed near the coast of Ireland when a bomb exploded in the cargo hold. The terrorist attack is attributed to the Khalistani terrorist organization.
• Charkhi-Dadri mid-air Collision: This mid-air collision occurred between Saudia Flight 763 and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 over Charkhi Dadri, India. This accident was due to human error.
• Malaysian Airlines Crash in Ukraine: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by separatists near the Ukraine/Russian border during the war in Donbas. 
• MH 370 Mystery: The flight MH 370, flying from  Kuala Lumpur  to Beijing, lost contact with air traffic controllers, deviated from its planned route, and is presumed lost in the southern Indian Ocean. The search for the aircraft was recently abandoned.

Read Also: GPS Spoofing and Jamming: Security threats in Aviation

Enhancing Aviation Safety: Key Measures and Preventative Strategies

• Aviation Safety Equipment: Aircrafts have been modernized to improve safety aspects. Modern equipment reduces the chances of human error.
• Global Positioning: In order to track the path of aircrafts post the MH 370 incident, global tracking instruments have been installed in aircrafts.
• Security Checks: Humans and luggage onboard aircrafts have to undergo security checks in order to reduce incidents of bombing or hijacks.
• Background Checks of Pilots: Pilots are regularly monitored for any stress or mental instability. This reduces chances of human error.
• Investigations: In case of aircraft accidents, investigations are carried out to find out the reason for the accident. This prevents occurrence of accidents in future.

Understanding the Role of India’s DGCA in Civil Aviation Regulation

• The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is a statutory body, responsible for regulating civil aviation in India. It comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
• The DGCA is headquartered in New Delhi with regional offices in various parts of India. It is headed by the Director General of Civil Aviation, who is a career bureaucrat.
• Functions:

Baramati

• Baramati is a taluka place located in Pune district of Maharashtra. It is part of Maharashtra’s sugar belt and is known for its sugar industry.
• Geography: The Nira River and Karha River are the main rivers flowing in this region. They are tributaries of Bhima River.
• Agricultural Landscape: Apart from sugarcane, the region also grows Grapes, Jowar, Cotton, and Wheat. These commodities are exported from the country.
• Industrial Landscape: The region houses factories manufacturing steel, textiles, automobile, confectionary, wine manufacturing etc.

Conclusion:

Airline accidents keep happening despite adoption of safety measures. The best way to reduce such incidents is by following standard procedures and increasing the standards of pilot training. Apart from that, the quality of aircrafts also needs continuous improvement.