Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of aircraft and aviation infrastructure. The aviation industry is subject to significant regulation and oversight.
The Martin JRM Mars is a large, four-engined cargo transport flying boat designed and built by the Martin Company for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the largest Allied flying boat to enter production, although only seven were built. The United States Navy contracted the development of the XPB2M-1 Mars in 1938 as a long-range ocean patrol flying boat, which later entered production as the JRM Mars long-range transport.
Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified as aerial firefighters, delivered to the fire by parachute from a variety of fixed-wing aircraft, or rappelling from helicopters. Chemicals used to fight fires may include water, water enhancers such as foams and gels, and specially formulated fire retardants such as Phos-Chek.
Rex Airlines Pty Ltd is an Australian regional airline based in Mascot, New South Wales. It operates scheduled regional and domestic services. It is Australia's largest regional airline outside the Qantas group's companies and serves all 6 states across Australia. It is the primary subsidiary of Regional Express Holdings.
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is a volunteer-based firefighting agency and statutory body of the Government of New South Wales.
ADC Airlines Flight 053 (ADK053) was a scheduled passenger flight operated by ADC Airlines from Nigeria's capital of Abuja to Sokoto. On 29 October 2006, the Boeing 737-2B7 crashed onto a corn field shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, killing 96 out of 105 people on board.
A hard landing occurs when an aircraft or spacecraft hits the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than in a normal landing. The terms hard landing and firm landing are often mixed up though are inherently different. A hard landing is never intended and if an aircraft has had a hard landing, it must be inspected for damage before its next flight. In contrast, depending on aircraft type and/or environmental conditions a firm landing is intended and even demanded by the aircraft manual.
The Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) is a self-contained unit used for aerial firefighting that can be loaded onto both military cargo transport Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Embraer C-390 Millennium, which then allows the aircraft to be used as an air tanker against wildfires. This allows the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to use military aircraft from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve to serve as an emergency backup resource to the civilian air tanker fleet.
Qantas Flight 30, on 25 July 2008, a Boeing 747-438 operated by Qantas, construction number 25067, registration VH-OJK, was a scheduled flight from London Heathrow to Melbourne with a stopover in Hong Kong. The flight was interrupted on the Hong Kong leg by an exploding oxygen tank that ruptured the fuselage just forward of the starboard wing root. 53-year-old Captain John Bartels and his co-pilots, Bernd Werninghaus and Paul Tabac, made an emergency descent to a breathable altitude of about 10,000 feet (3,048 m) and diverted to Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Metro Manila, Philippines. There were no injuries.
On 4 September 2000, a chartered Beechcraft 200 Super King Air departed Perth for a flight to the mining town of Leonora, Western Australia. The aircraft crashed near Burketown, Queensland, Australia, resulting in the deaths of all eight occupants. During the flight, the aircraft climbed above its assigned altitude. When air traffic control (ATC) contacted the pilot, the pilot's speech had become significantly impaired, and he was unable to respond to instructions. Three aircraft intercepted the Beechcraft, but were unable to make radio contact. The aircraft continued flying on a straight north-easterly heading for five hours, before exhausting its fuel and crashing 40 mi (65 km) south-east of Burketown. The crash became known in the media as the "ghost flight".
Qantas Flight 72 (QF72) was a scheduled flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Perth Airport by an Airbus A330. On 7 October 2008, the flight made an emergency landing at Learmonth Airport near the town of Exmouth, Western Australia, following an inflight accident that included a pair of sudden, uncommanded pitch-down manoeuvres that caused severe injuries—including fractures, lacerations and spinal injuries—to several of the passengers and crew. At Learmonth, the plane was met by the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and CareFlight. Fourteen people were airlifted to Perth for hospitalisation, with 39 others also attending hospital. In all, one crew member and 11 passengers suffered serious injuries, while eight crew and 99 passengers suffered minor injuries. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation found a fault with one of the aircraft's three air data inertial reference units (ADIRUs) and a previously unknown software design limitation of the Airbus A330's fly-by-wire flight control primary computer (FCPC).
Emirates Flight 407 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Emirates from Auckland to Dubai with a stopover in Melbourne, operated by an Airbus A340-500 aircraft. On 21 March 2009, the flight failed to take off properly at Melbourne Airport, hitting several structures at the end of the runway before climbing and then returning to the airport for a safe landing. Although no fatalities or injuries resulted, damage to the aircraft was severe enough for the event to be classified by Australian Transport Safety Bureau as an "accident". It was subsequently determined that a data-entry error resulted in insufficient engine thrust during take off. It has been described "as close as we have ever come to a major aviation catastrophe in Australia" by aviation officials.
The 2009 Pel-Air Westwind ditching or Norfolk Island ditching was an aircraft accident on 18 November 2009 near Norfolk Island, Australia. A Westwind II jet operated by Pel-Air was conducting an air ambulance flight for CareFlight International when it was forced to ditch after being unable to land in bad weather and not having sufficient fuel to divert to an alternate destination.
Qantas Flight 32 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from London to Sydney via Singapore. On 4 November 2010, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A380, suffered an uncontained failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. The failure occurred over the Riau Islands, Indonesia, four minutes after takeoff from Singapore Changi Airport. After holding for almost two hours to assess the situation, the aircraft made a successful emergency landing at Changi. No injuries occurred to the passengers, crew, or people on the ground, despite debris from the aircraft falling onto houses in Batam.
On 1 October 2012, Riama, a 1934 vintage de Havilland DH.84 Dragon passenger aircraft, crashed in Queensland, Australia, while flying from Monto to Caboolture. Radio contact was lost about an hour after the pilot reported to be in cloud with zero visibility. The wreckage was found in heavily wooded, hilly terrain two days later. The pilot and five passengers were killed in the accident.
Whyalla Airlines Flight 904 was a scheduled commuter flight, operated by a Piper PA-31 Navajo which crashed while attempting to ditch in the Spencer Gulf, South Australia after suffering failures of both engines on the evening of 31 May 2000. All 8 people on board the aircraft were killed as a result of the accident. The findings of a subsequent investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau highlighting the airline's operating procedures as a key factor leading to the accident were later overturned after they were contradicted by evidence presented at a coronial inquiry into the deaths of those on board the flight. The safety implications arising from the accident were subject to a recall by engine manufacturer Textron Lycoming which saw close to 1000 aircraft grounded worldwide while defects were rectified at an estimated cost of $A66 million. Australia's aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority also mandated lifejackets be carried on all aircraft operating over water after the crash.
Air Spray (1967) Ltd. trading as Air Spray Ltd. of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Air Spray USA Inc of Chico, California is a private company specializing in aerial wildfire suppression using air tanker or water bomber aircraft. Air Spray was owned and operated by Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, Donald T. Hamilton until his death in 2011. The company continued to be owned and operated by his daughter, Lynn Hamilton, of Foothills, Alberta.
On 31 July 2010, a Convair CV-580 Airtanker aircraft operated by Conair Aviation crashed while on a firefighting mission near Lytton, British Columbia, Canada. Both crew members, the only people on board, were killed.
The development of aerial firefighting and forestry in southern Australia ran in parallel with the rapid improvements in aircraft technology over the last century. As more advanced and capable aircraft became available firefighters and foresters quickly sought opportunities to utilise and adapt them.
On 6 February 2023, a Boeing 737-300 owned by Coulson Aviation and used as an air tanker crashed in the Fitzgerald River National Park in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia while fighting multiple fires. The two crew members aboard—both pilots—survived with minor injuries and were taken to hospital. The crash resulted in the first hull loss of a Boeing 737 in Australia.
