Food poisoning and laser lights are the biggest causes of incapacitation of pilots according to Australia’s crash investigator.

The Australian Transport and Safety Bureau has issued the results of a survey that found that in the 5 years between 2010 and 2014, there have been on average 23 pilot occurrences a year reported where Australian pilots could not perform their duties. 

That is once every 34,000 flights.

Over 75 per cent of incidents involved commercial passenger flights and the ATSB reported that the other pilot was successfully able to continue the flight or divert to an emergency landing.

Some of the incapacitation cases have been quite bizarre including one where the co-pilot became air sick after the plane encountered severe turbulence.

The ATSB found that between 2010 and 2014, there were a total of 113 flight crew incapacitation occurrences reported to the ATSB and half of the incapacitation occurrences were related to gastrointestinal illnesses such as food poisoning or gastroenteritis. 

Laser strikes accounted for 13 per cent of flight crew incapacitation occurrences in high capacity operations. 

Between 2010 and 2014 there were 1,316 laser strikes in high capacity transport operations in Australia reported to the ATSB. 

However, only 11 during this period resulted in pilot incapacitation. 

The ATSB said that while the chances of incapacitation from a laser strike are low, when they occur, they can be serious enough to lead to total incapacitation of the pilot.

One of the most serious incidents involved a 787 captain did not have happy ending.  

The training captain who was flying the 787 suffered a suspected brain aneurysm just after touch down at Perth, Western Australia and the aircraft began to veer to the right and the other captain, who was checking her, took control of the aircraft to return to the centreline and completed the landing. 

The two other flight crew members supported the incapacitated captain and administered oxygen and she was later taken to hospital but died two days later.

The airline industry's leading association has warned that there are no easy solutions to pilot's mental health or terrorism that brought down two aircraft killing 374 last year. 

Yesterday the International Air Transport Association (IATA) issued its report card on airline safety and claimed that last year was one of the safest on record but it cautioned that there are still problems in countries such as Africa and parts of the CIS.

World's Safest Airlines.

Last year there was one major passenger jet aircraft accident for every 3.1 million flights which was a 30% improvement compared to the previous five-year rate (2010-2014) of 0.46 hull loss accidents per million jet flights.

The 2015 jet hull loss rate for members of IATA was 0.22 (one accident for every 4.5 million flights), which outperformed the global rate by 31% and which was in line with the five-year rate (2010-2014) of 0.21 per million flights but above the 0.12 hull loss rate achieved in 2014.

IATA says that the loss of Germanwings 9525 (pilot suicide) and Metrojet 9268 (suspected terrorism) that resulted in the deaths of 374 passengers and crew  are tragedies that are not, however, included in the accident statistics as they are classified as deliberate acts of unlawful interference.

Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO said that 2015 in terms of the number of fatal accidents, it “was an extraordinarily safe year.” 

“The long-term trend data show us that flying is getting even safer. Yet we were all shocked and horrified by two deliberate acts–the destruction of Germanwings 9525 and Metrojet 9268.”

Mr Tyler warned that “while there are no easy solutions to the mental health (of pilots) and security issues that were exposed in these tragedies, aviation continues to work to minimize the risk that such events will happen again." 

Safety by the numbers:
•    More than 3.5 billion people flew safely on 37.6 million flights (31.4 million by jet, 6.2 million by turboprop)
•    136 fatalities compared to 641 fatalities in 2014 and the five-year average of 504. Including those who lost their lives in Germanwings 9525 and Metrojet 9268, the 2015 figure was 510.
•    68 accidents (all aircraft types), down from 77 in 2014 and the five-year average of 90 per year
•    Four fatal accidents (all aircraft types) versus 12 in 2014 and the five-year average of 17.6
•    6% of all accidents were fatal, below the five-year average of 19.6%
•    10 hull loss accidents involving jets compared to 8 in 2014 and the five-year average of 13 per year
•    Zero jet hull loss accidents involving passenger fatalities, down from three in 2014, and the five-year average of 6.4 per year.

While most regions improved their safety Africa (3.49) and the Commonwealth of Independent States remain problem areas.

Mr Tyler said that airlines on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Registry experienced only 4 jet hull loss accidents (none fatal) and one fatal turboprop hull loss accident. 

The total accident rate (all aircraft types) for IOSA-registered carriers was nearly three times as good as the rate for non-IOSA carriers (1.14. vs. 3.23) last year; and over the five years 2010-2014, the rate is more than three times better (1.48 vs. 4.99). 

As of 12 February, 408 airlines were on the IOSA registry. For IATA’s 262 member airlines, IOSA registration is a requirement. That some 146 non-member airlines are also on the registry is evidence that IOSA is the global benchmark for airline operational safety management.

"Now in its 13th year, IOSA continues to be recognized as the gold standard for airline operational audits. In 2016 we will continue to tweak IOSA to ensure we are maintaining the highest standards of quality assurance in the audit process," said Tyler.

IOSA is a major part of the AirlineRatings.com safety rating system which is endorsed by aviation’s governing body the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). 

.
 

Air France has paid tribute to the Boeing 747 that has served it well for 45 years with a magnificent formation flight with France’s crack aerobatic team, the Patrouille de France.

The French airline once had a massive 68-strong fleet of 747s but flew its last passenger flight – AF439 – from Mexico City to Paris CDG on January 11.

Then just a few days ago the airline flew the Queen of the Skies around France’s Camargue region, in formation with the French Acrobatic Patrol’s 12 Alpha Jets.

Today smaller more fuel efficiency twin–engine aircraft like the Boeing 777, 787, Airbus A330 and A350XWB are replacing 747s in the world’s fleets.

While some airlines have opted for the A380 for most the super jumbo is too big.

However some airlines like British Airways love their 747s and are planning to keep them flying through to 2020.

The once stodgy chore of regulatory compliance that no-one watched, airline safety videos, have been re-invented as the carriers vie for customers' loyalty and 'bums on seats'.

The explosion of new media platforms like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter means airlines can get the attention of millions of wannabe travellers for a fraction of what it used to cost provided they can devise “content” that interests them. 
In the past decade, but especially in the past three years, the records have been tumbling with video marketing analyst Tubularlabs.com estimating there were around 50 million viewings of airline safety videos on social media in the 2014-15 year – an 80 per cent leap on the year before. 

In October 2013, the fledgling Virgin America – the product of a difficult birth in 2007 and only just startling to break even after years of losses and still without the critical mass to launch an expensive, conventional TV advertising campaign – released what many analysts believed would be a hit that would take years to surpass.

The all-singing-all-dancing showbiz video tagged #VXsafetydance smashed the airline industry’s record for “social media engagement”, racking up more than 11 million views on Youtube over the next two years.
But the analysts underestimated Air New Zealand – the “small airline at the bottom of the world”, in the words of its marketing guru Mike Tod – which has been working on new ways of talking to consumers for around seven years.
“We have to do things differently to get noticed and talked about,” Tod said in an interview on the Linked In network. He estimates that Air NZ videos have already been seen by close to 50 million people.

Air NZ’s 2009 Bare Essentials, a video notionally about safety in which pilots and cabin crew appeared “nude” covered only in body paint and stockings, was edgy and risqué, going on to attract 7.5 million sets of eyeballs on Youtube.
But in 2012 the first of its safety videos inspired by the Hobbit movies, An Unexpected Briefing, was seen by 12.5 million people.
That led to the second in the series, 2014’s modestly titled The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made , which still holds the Youtube record for the “genre” with 15.3 million views.
However, with safety videos becoming the leading form of marketing “content” the industry is aiming at its customers, other airlines are now showing just what can be achieved.

In the run-up to Christmas 2015, Qatar Airways, released its first safety video featuring the stars of one of the world’s most glamorous football teams, FC Barcelona, as part of its global “branding” campaign, Going Places Together. The video has become an instant hit.

Instead of taking two years to hit double-figure million views on Youtube like Virgin America’s #VXsafetydance, it smashed that barrier in just a month, racking up 11.2 million views.
Safety videos are just one component of the new world of social media marketing that technology has enabled in the past decade, but those at the coalface swear by their ability to woo new customers.

“What we have learned with recent videos like our final Hobbit instalment [The Most Epic Safety Video …] and the Sports Illustrated collaboration [Safety In Paradise] is that these pieces of content can put bums on seats,” says Air NZ’s Mike Tod. 
“We saw a significant spike in sales to the Cook Islands immediately following the launch of the Sports Illustrated collaboration and we had an online sales day record in the US when the latest Hobbit safety video launched,” he says. 
“Interestingly, in the period following the launch of the Bear Grylls-fronted video  shot on the Routeburn track in the [NZ] South Island, the Department of Conservation saw the number of people using the Great Walks increase by more than 10%.”

Air NZ is already plotting the next in what has become an annual safety video – “with some household names who we would love to have on board”, according to Tod – which is anything but a bureaucratic regulatory compliance, as the NZ regulator has allowed the airline creative licence as long as the underlying safety message gets through. 
In the meantime, it is devising new video challenges to connect with its customers like the tear-jerking Santa Stop Here released before Christmas 2015.
 

Aviation safety doesn’t just happen. It’s hard-won, composed of lessons learned from accidents and incidents. Its’ the job of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, one of the smallest yet hardest-working organizations in Washington, D.C., to chronicle what goes wrong when an airplane crashes and issue recommendations to fix the problems.

The Safety Board just issued its ‘Most Wanted’ list for 2016, improvements aimed at making almost all modes of transportation safer. As often happens, aviation concerns either led, or were near the top of, the list. At least five of the ten ‘Most Wanted’ improvements are related to commercial aviation. The NTSB wants U.S. regulators to:

Require medical fitness for duty
NTSB says, “When safety-critical personnel, such as public vehicle operators (in many cases that means pilots) have untreated medical conditions that prevent them from doing their jobs effectively, people can be seriously injured or die.” 

The Safety board cites a case in which a FedEx Boeing 727 cargo jet flew into the ground while on approach to Tallahassee, Florida “because the pilot had a severe color vision deficiency which made it difficult for him to correctly identify the color of the airport’s PAPI lights that were warning him the flight was too low.” Three people were injured in the crash.

NTSB recommends a comprehensive medical certification system for safety-critical transportation personnel that includes—among other things—a complete medical history taken at prescribed intervals that includes medications, conditions and treatments as well as physical exams; and an exam to identify personnel at high-risk for sleep disorders. 

End substance abuse in transportation
The Safety Board says, “Our new reality” is that drugs or alcohol can affect the ability to operate any vehicle, including aircraft. NTSB recently studied drug use among all fatally-injured pilots. What it found was sobering: “The prevalence of potentially impairing drugs increased from an average of 11 percent of fatally-injured accident pilots during the period from 1990-1997 to an average of 23 percent of accident pilots during the period 2008-2012…The most commonly found impairing substance was diphenhydramine, a sedating antihistamine found in over-the-counter medications.”

As to what can be done, the Safety Board concedes, “Unfortunately, for most drugs, the relationship between the amount consumed and crash risk is not well understood. We need more and better data to better understand the scope of the problem and the effectiveness of countermeasures.” 

Expand the use of recorders to enhance transportation safety
Stating flat-out that “no single tool has helped determine what went wrong [in an accident] more than recorders,” NTSB recommends the use of cockpit image recorders—not merely voice and flight data reorders. Noting that in a crash “data and/or voice recorders may have been present. But some questions could have been answered only through the data provided by an image recorder. Image recorders can help fill in the gaps.”

This isn’t a new recommendation on the part of the Safety Board. Previous suggestions that video recorders be installed in the cockpits of airliners have been met with opposition among some pilots.

Strengthen occupant protection
The Safety Board says it’s investigated “many accidents where improved occupant protection systems…could have reduced injuries and saved lives.” 

The 2013 crash of an Asiana Boring 777 at San Francisco International illustrates the issue, where “a lack of restraint use led to some tragic consequences.” NTSB says, “While 99 percent of passengers survived…two of the three fatally injured passengers were ejected from the airplane because they were unrestrained.”

The Safety Board is especially keen to see improvements in rules regulating child restraint. Ironically, “While we are required to secure our luggage and even small items such as snacks and beverages during takeoff and landing, the [U.S.] Federal Aviation Administration exempts the most vulnerable passengers—children underage two—allowing them to travel unrestrained, or on an adult’s lap.”

The Safety Board wants to see increased use of existing restraint systems, systems that “preserve survivable space and ensure ease of evacuation.”

Reduce fatigue-related accidents
Fatigue can have terrible consequences. “Nearly 20 percent of the 182 major NTSB investigations [of accidents affecting all modes of transportation] completed between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2012 identified fatigue as a probable cause, contributing factor or finding.” One of the most glaring instances was the August 14, 2013 crash of a UPS A300 cargo aircraft at Birmingham, Alabama. Both the captain and first officer died.

As to what can be done, the Safety Board says, “Over the past three decades a great deal of research has been done. But research only goes so far; we must implement what we have learned.”

Lessons that were hard-won indeed.

Friendly Australians and stunning destinations are the stars of a new Qantas safety video that showcases Australia as an amazing place to visit.
 
Due to screen on hundreds of Qantas flights a day to a global audience of almost 30 million people a year, the short video features Australians from all walks of life talking passengers through the on-board safety instructions against the backdrop of locations across the country.

Watch video here.
 
The scenarios featured in the video include:
An oxygen mask demonstration at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart;

A life-jacket demonstration at Bondi Icebergs;

A brace position demonstration during a yoga class on Hamilton Island;

Counting rows to the exit on a Yarra Valley winery; and

An emergency slide demonstration at Josephine Falls in Queensland, among others.
 
The video will be introduced across Qantas’ domestic and international fleet from February, as well as featuring on the airline’s online channels. While the video is first and foremost a safety communication, it will also form the basis of a new tourism campaign.
 
Qantas and Tourism Australia will work together over the next 12 months to promote the locations featured and maximise the benefits for local tourism operators. In particular, Tourism Australia will lend its social media marketing power, helping the video reach millions of people globally.
 
The campaign comes at a time when tourism is growing at the fastest rate since the Sydney Olympics, setting new records for visitor numbers and spending, with huge potential growth to come.
 
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the video was a unique platform to promote the local tourism industry and capture the confident-but-relaxed Aussie personality that visitors tend to fall in love with.
 
“We’ve experimented with different settings for our safety videos over the years, but this time we saw an opportunity to celebrate Australia itself,” Mr Joyce said.
 
“The result is something that we believe is really special and powerful, but warm, funny and down to earth at the same time, because it’s about everyday Australians.
 
“We’re confident that it’s going to grab people’s attention and get them focused on the safety information that every Qantas customer needs to know.
 
“It’s a video that people can really connect with, and there’s an opportunity to expand its reach by sharing it online and through social media – giving it a dual purpose as promotion for Australian tourism,” added Mr Joyce.
 
“Qantas has always been the biggest private sector supporter of Australian tourism and we’re delighted to be working with Tourism Australia on the social media campaign that goes with the new video.
 
“With the headwind of a lower dollar we have the potential to create a new tourism boom in this country.   I’m proud that Qantas is leading the way, not just through our global marketing efforts but by adding flights and seats and expanding our partnerships with the world’s biggest airlines.”
 
Qantas’ contribution to tourism promotion includes marketing partnerships worth more than $80 million with state and territory marketing agencies and extensive direct Qantas advertising and owned media activity across its global network.   A recent Deloitte Access Economics report found that, in 2014/15 the Qantas Group facilitated $9.5 billion in tourism expenditure in Australia, or one in every nine dollars spent, supporting 105,000 jobs across the country.
 
Full list of locations featured in the video: 
 
Alice Springs, NT
Bondi Baths, NSW
Canberra, ACT
Cradle Mountain, TAS
Deep Well Station, NT
Exmouth, WA
Fremantle, WA
Hamilton Island, QLD
Hobart, TAS (MONA)
Josephine Falls, QLD
Lake Lefroy, WA
Melbourne, VIC
Purnong, SA
Stanwell Park NSW
Tooborac, VIC
Yarra Valley, VIC
Whitsundays, QLD