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Term Paper: CFIT

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Diesel

TEB Hilton resident
Joined
Nov 25, 2001
Posts
4,394
Guys-

I'm writing a term paper on CFIT accidents where technology has both saved and caused the accident. Basically i'm looking at the roll of how automation in the cockpit has played a roll in CFIT.

I've got some pretty good accidents but if anyone has any other ideas on some accidents that I can look up it would be appreciated.

uuuuugh college
 
Are you familiar with the Capstone system?

I don't have an opinion on it either way.

You could start with a search on this website.

Naturally I assume you already investigated the AA Cali crash.
 
Diesel said:
uuuuugh college

I can't think of any CFIT accidents where automation played a factor, but I can relate to the fun of doing papers. I just did a real ass grinder on the history of the Irish Republican Army. I can tell you all about Theobald Wolfe Tone and how the first Governor of Montana was an IRA Exile that served in the Union Army during the U.S. civil war and lead the IRA cause in U.S. based IRA fundraising and armed raids into Canada, if that will help. :nuts:

Good luck and I hope you get a good grade on your paper!
 
Wasn't there an airbus accident or near-accident where the crew accidentally punched in a descent of 3000fpm instead of 3.0 degrees?
 
I cannot for the life of me remember the airline, but see if you can find info on a 747 CFIT that involved repeated warnings from the Ground Prox system.

Early GPWS systems were prone to false warnings, when the real thing was happening the crew ignored the warning.

Maybe someone else here can remember the date and airline.
 
Yeah i'm using cali. That's a great example of how the reliance of automation has caused a CFIT accident.
 
not automation but what about the eastern crash where all 3 guys were fixating on the burned out light on the grear indicator
 
imacdog said:
Wasn't there an airbus accident or near-accident where the crew accidentally punched in a descent of 3000fpm instead of 3.0 degrees?

This was an Air Inter (French Domestic Airline) A-320 in the early 1990s I believe blying between Lyon and Strasbourg France. Not sure if it was a definitive cause or not but apparently the same selector knob can choose either FPA (Flight Path Angle) or VS (Vertical Speed) and the displays look quite similar (they both read on the same little screen)...so that in an attempt to select a 3.3 degree FPA you could select a 3300 FPM descent (which would be abbreviated 33 on the screen) if you weren't looking real closely at it.

Also, don't forget the granddaddy of technology causing a CFIT accident -- American Airlines 757 near Cali Colombia.
 
Diesel said:
Guys-

I'm writing a term paper on CFIT accidents where technology has both saved and caused the accident. Basically i'm looking at the roll of how automation in the cockpit has played a roll in CFIT.

I've got some pretty good accidents but if anyone has any other ideas on some accidents that I can look up it would be appreciated.

uuuuugh college


A 747 was involved in a CFIT accident, where the controler told the crew to "descend 2-400 feet", pronounced, "two-four-zero-zero feet." The crew thought the controller meant "to 400 feet."

The GPWS was barking all the way to the ground.
 
Diesel said:
Yeah i'm using cali. That's a great example of how the reliance of automation has caused a CFIT accident.
Give em a break, they're pilots. :laugh:

Edited: When I wrote that, I thought you were giving the poster a brow beating about staying on topic...don't know where I got that from, but that's what I was thinking. I wasn't making fun of the American crew.

Moving on, automation didn't cause that CFIT crash.
 
Last edited:

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