Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) bites back with a vengeance - despite CFIT "task forces", it seems we still do not share safety incident reporting as we should.
A TransAsia ATR 72 en route from Taipei to Macau crashes seemingly due to icing. We have known about this problem for a long time - before the American Eagle ATR 72 accident in 1994 at Roselawn, Indiana.
Before a big crash, there are often precursors, such as in 1972 when an American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 almost crashed when its aft cargo door opened: the THY DC-10 which suffered a similar problem in 1974 was not so lucky.
Africa sees a mid-air collision, but the Boeing 737 involved continues, with known structural damage, to its destination, instead of making an immediate precautionary landing. Do we really call this a safety culture?
Lance Cole
Swindon, UK
Source: Flight International
