Volume List  / Volume 12 (2)

Article

U.S./EUROPE COMPARISON OF ATC-RELATED ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS

DOI: 10.7708/ijtte2022.12(2).01


12 / 2 / 155-169 Pages

Author(s)

Lejla Nikšić - Department of Environmental and Technical Research of Accidents, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey -

Ebru Arıkan Öztürk - Department of Environmental and Technical Research of Accidents, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey -


Abstract

Nowadays, air transportation is known as the most safety type of transportation. However, there have been a lot of airplane crashes in which a lot of people lost their lives alongside with a huge material damage and a high cost for air industry. The causes of airplane crashes are different and various. One of the causes is air traffic control errors. Research shows that 6% - 10% of all aircraft crash accidents are caused by air traffic control errors. However, this type of research is very important for the sustainability of traffic management. In this research data of airplane accidents and incidents for the period between 2008-2018 in the US caused by air traffic control errors taken from NTSB and data of airplane accidents and incidents for the same period in Europe taken from EASA were used. Both data were analyzed according to various factors such as time of the day of the occurrence, place of the occurrence, type of flight rules, the ATC unit where the error was made, weather conditions, and traffic frequency. All occurrences (accidents and incidents) were analyzed according to these factors and results have been shown in graphs for the US airspace and European airspace compared to each other. The results of the study show differences in the percentage of occurrences with ATC contribution and occurrences affected by traffic density as external factors and VFR accidents related to ATC. According to other factors, results are compatible with each other.


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