Situational awareness in aviation
- January 30, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Situational awareness in aviation
Subject : Science and technology
Section: Msc
Concept :
- A Court of Inquiry will examine the reasons for the crash of IAF Sukhoi-30 and Mirage-2000 that has led to the loss of two IAF jets and a fighter pilot’s life.
Situational awareness in aviation
- Situational awareness (SA) means appreciating all you need to know about what is going on when flying, controlling or maintaining an aircraft – is taken into account.
- SA is concerned with the person’s knowledge of particular task-related events and phenomena.
- For example, for a fighter pilot SA means knowing about the threats and intentions of enemy forces as well as the status of his/her own aircraft.
- For an air traffic controller, SA means (at least partly) knowing about current aircraft positions and flight plans and predicting future states so as to detect possible conflicts.
- Therefore, in operational terms, SA means having an understanding of the current state and dynamics of a system and being able to anticipate future change and developments.
Significance
For a pilot:
- situational awareness means having a mental picture of the existing inter-relationship of location, flight conditions, configuration and energy state of your aircraft as well as any other factors that could be about to affect its safety such as proximate terrain, obstructions, airspace reservations and weather systems.
- The potential consequences of inadequate situational awareness include CFIT, loss of control, airspace infringement, loss of separation, or an encounter with wake vortex turbulence, severe air turbulence, heavy icing or unexpectedly strong head winds.
- Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) -CFIT means that the pilot is in full control of the aircraft but due to faulty situational awareness, the aircraft strikes the terrain.
- For a controller:
- situational awareness means acquiring and maintaining a mental picture of the traffic situation being managed and maintaining an appreciation of the potential for unexpected progressions or changes in this scenario.