External forces

The evolving threats to air safety

I seriously doubt whether the Wright Brothers could have foreseen it and I am fairly certain they would have been extremely disappointed. While the evolution of their frail flyer into machines that could shrink the globe and smash the sound barrier would have been satisfying, some of the recent side-effects have been more than disturbing.

That airliners could be used as missiles to strike terror around the world is more akin to a Jules Verne novel than reality. The growth of ‘air rage’ in the passenger cabin, rogue pilots, hand-held lasers blinding flightcrews and even ‘hackers’ boasting of their efforts to wirelessly infiltrate flight computers. And sadly our response has been beaten down from absolute shock to resignedly wondering what is next? At what point did aviation transform from the pride of technological advancement to a target for darker minds? As designers and human factors specialists strive to make aviation safer, the random events continue to surface. These are elements that sit so far out on the bell-curve of probability that rational minds have previously not been required to consider their eventuality. In an industry that constantly employs threat and risk management, the spanner has been most definitely thrown into the works.