Loss of control in flight – time to re-define?

Loss of Control In Flight has been the primary fatal accident category for all sectors of aviation and all types of airplane, around the world for the past 55 years. Although accident rates for commercial jets have decreased from 11 fatal accidents per million departures in 1960 to less than 0.3 in 2015, Loss of Control In Flight continues to dominate the statistics. Highly publicised accidents such as Air France 447 have raised public awareness of Loss of Control In Flight. This and other high profile events, have motivated airplane manufacturers, pilot training organisations, flight simulator manufacturers, research institutions and regulators to intervene. Before intervention, a clear definition of the event is required. Current definitions are limited to non-recoverable events and the majority of previous studies have concentrated on fatal events only. This is a missed opportunity to learn lessons from near misses and recorded flight data to enhance prevention and recovery strategies. This paper presents a revised definition of Loss of Control In Flight, considering it as a recoverable event extending the it to consider prevention and recovery factors.