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Are Advances in Aviation Safety Vulnerable to The Knock-on Effects of The Current Pandemic?

A catastrophic departure from a controlled flight at altitude is a rare event, even in Indonesia, where poor air transport security conditions have led to a ten-year blacklist by European authorities.


Although Indonesian surveillance has improved enough in recent years to lift the sanctions, the loss of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 will certainly cause some observers to question whether, under the stress of the abnormal pandemic, the security situation is deteriorating.


Such skepticism is not unreasonable, given that the reckless reversal of the normality of air travel creates unexpected safety concerns, even among the most disciplined operators and regulators.


Investigators investigating the recent accident must consider the potential contributions of significant operational disruptions, prolonged aircraft storage, rusting skills, personnel shortages, and procedural upheavals.


Besides the Lion Air 737 Max saga, most of the incidents that have broken Indonesia's safety record over the past two decades have involved controlled flights on the ground or accidents during approach and landing.


But investigators also investigated two fatal in-flight disruptions involving an Indonesian airline on board, tracing apparently minor recurring technical flaws that were not resolved by maintenance, which the pilots then attempted to resolve with disastrous results. .


Despite 154 repeated faults, recorded over three months, in the inertia reference system of the Adam Air 737-400, the aircraft was able to continue flying until in January 2007, the crew was absorbed in trying to fix the problem while he was at 35,000 feet. .


The pilots have limited knowledge of the system and while trying to fix the problem unknowingly let go of the autopilot. Concerned about trouble, they did not see the plane start to dive excessively and dive steep, so quickly that the pressure caused the jet to rupture.


Investigators investigating the disappearance of an Indonesian AirAsia A320 almost exactly eight years later found a recurring and unresolved issue with the rudder movement restriction unit, with 23 incidents reported in the previous 12 months .


While traveling at 32,000 feet, the pilot encountered several warnings regarding this unit - the result of a fractured electronic solder joint - and ultimately chose to pull the on-board computer circuit breaker, an action which caused the breaking the autopilot and changing the flight control laws. . The crew failed to control the aircraft manually, corrected the overuse when it started to taxi suddenly, and accidentally threw the A320 into steep, aerodynamic slopes.


None of this, of course, has any direct bearing on the Sriwijaya plane crash.


But ultimately, if technical faults are not repaired and their effects are exacerbated by inadequate crew action, under normal circumstances the risk posed by a pandemic - due to an aircraft being pulled from a sleeping months, for pilots to fly outside of practice - becomes clear.


Sriwijaya Air is not immune to excursions and plane wrecks, however, with Indonesia's blacklist lifted, European aviation safety regulators are deemed to have an "established safety management system." ", while senior managers have a" good appreciation "of the relevant issues and" a good knowledge ". well ”on the systems used to manage flight operations and safety.


Maybe that's the problem. And whatever the reasons for the Swirijaya crash, it probably has nothing to do with the biggest aviation crisis.


But until the issue separates these events - and, for that matter, the accidents of last year in India and Pakistan - from the effects of the pandemic, the suspicion that air passengers will be counted among their victims will likely disappear. not so soon.


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