In the previous post in this series I shared a list of the most dangerous jobs in the world and also some important points of why the pilot profession is part of this extreme list!
But what makes planes safer? Why do we keep saying that it is the safest thing there is, if there are so many dangers waiting for the right time? ... Well, there is an answer to these questions and it is nothing more than Safety.
Operational Safety was born in Annex 19 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, or as many people know of it, the Chicago Convention, a treaty made in 1944 to update international agreements and standards on civil aviation.
According to ICAO Doc 9859 (International Civil Aviation Organization) Operational Safety is defined as: "State in which the risk of injury to persons or damage to property is reduced and maintained at an acceptable level or below, through a continuous process of hazard identification or risk management.
In a simple way we can explain this with the causal model of accidents developed by Professor James Reason, a model also known as "The Swiss Cheese Theory"
This theory helps to understand if the flight activity works successfully or is directed at its total failure. The same explains that there are slices that represent security blocks, which prevent an accident. In turn these slices have certain holes that at the moment in which each of them are crossed, the catastrophe will occur.
The first cheese slice we can know it as the Organization, which are controlled activities, which are under control and supervision.
The second is the workplace, if the working conditions are poor or if they are optimal.
The third is more than the whole human factor, to be aware of it. As everyone knows the human being is not perfect and tends to make mistakes, it is even said that 80% of accidents and incidents are by the human factor. This slice also takes into account violations of the rules, which often happens with airlines for monetary reasons.
The fourth, the Fifth and the sixth slice are within a group purely defensive and exclusive to stop any oversight. The fourth would be The regulations established by the Chicago Convention.
The fifth would be the instructions to follow, which explains in detail how to proceed to all kinds of situations. In aviation there are procedures to follow for everything, even to go to the bathroom of the plane when you are in flight...
The Sixth is the technology that every day is contributing more and more ways to minimize the risk through the innovations that exist in the matter of the motors, the control surfaces, all the instruments used in flight, among others. As an example are the instruments, which mostly were analog before but by technological progress now we can see it in digital, this benefited to pilots in certain aspects, one of them is parallax error (When an observer looks obliquely an indicator and scale of the apparatus, as a needle or the surface of a liquid)
Well to what we came, there are certainly many latent conditions waiting to be detonated, but everything does not stay there, there is a great safety system that covers each of the factors that seek to make these conditions active. An example is that in order to start an aircraft (either high or low performance), a large number of procedures are required to ensure the flight. At the end of everything there are so many procedures that the danger is minimized, it is not completely eliminated because it is obviously impossible, it will always be there waiting for the minimum error, but if it decreases until reaching the green or acceptable ranges.
So do not be afraid to get on a plane, there is a whole conglomerate of expert people fulfilling the established procedures so that you have a comfortable flight rather I dare you to feel the art of flying
References:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenio_sobre_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Civil_Internacional
http://www.anac.gov.ar/anac/web/uploads/ssp-sms/doc_oaci_9859.pdf
https://descubrirlaquimica.wordpress.com/errores/
Images Taken:
http://www.gulfstream.com/aircraft/gulfstream-g550
http://www.hispaviacion.es/el-anexo-19-de-la-oaci-gestion-de-la-seguridad-operacional/
http://anestesiar.org/2012/aspectos-de-factores-humanos-de-los-casos-notificados-en-el-nap4/
http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php/editorial/item/17757-la-teor%C3%ADa-del-queso-de-james-reason
http://www.realsafety.org/2014/11/safety-supervisors-the-5-most-common-mistakes/
https://ignaciosantiago.com/blog/errores-puesto-de-trabajo/
http://conceptodefinicion.de/reglamento/
http://www.transair.co.uk/sp+Cessna-152-Fuelhawk-Gauge-12-Gal+3443
http://www.grandes-artistas.com/2012/06/antes-y-despues.html