Shattered: Study Reveals Glass Cockpits Don’t Improve Safety

North Carolina Injury Lawyers Who Handle Bus Wrecks, Airplane Accidents & Train Accidents
Attorneys Licensed in NC and South Carolina (SC) with Office in Elizabeth City, NC

Mass Transit (Airline, Train, Bus)

3/10/2010
Jim Lewis
Comments (0)

Shattered: Study Reveals Glass Cockpits Don’t Improve Safety

A study conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed glass cockpit technology has not significantly improved the safety of small airplanes, according to avweb.com.

plane, airplane, accident, crash, injury, attorney, lawyer, loss of life

The advent of glass cockpits occurred in the 90s when LCD panels were favored over traditional panels with manual instruments and controls due to apparent increases in efficiency, reliability, and legibility. Currently, the glass cockpit has become standard equipment in airliners, jets, planes, and was even used NASA's Space Shuttle orbiters Atlantis, Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavour.

NTSB recommended changes including alterations in training and maintenance reporting. The specific recommendations include:

Revise pilot knowledge tests and include general knowledge about glass panels
Include information in aircraft manuals about abnormal and failure modes of the panels
Introduce training elements to improve pilot knowledge of glass-panel system functionality

The primary motivation for the alterations is due to the fact that there was a higher loss of life for airplanes equipped with glass panels. Airplanes equipped with traditional panels suffered 141 total plane accidents with 23 lives lost. Glass-equipped planes suffered 125 total accidents, but 39 lives were lost. Yes, there were fewer total airplane accidents for the planes with the glass panels, but the priority needs to be on keeping the pilots alive, not just simply reducing the aggregate total of plane accidents.

As a licensed pilot, I appreciate the NTSB's study and hope that once these changes are made, we'll see a decrease in the number of small airplane accident deaths.

Labels: accident accidents airplane attorney cockpit crash injury Lewis loss of life pilot plane

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury and accident law and have experience handling accidents involving airplanes, trains, buses and other forms of mass transit. In fact, our law firm published a free consumer safety guide on what to do if you are hurt in an airplane accident. We serve every area of North Carolina, including the Outer Banks, Nags Head and the western mountains, as well as all the cities and counties in between. In South Carolina, we cover the state from Myrtle Beach and Charleston to Orangeburg, Columbia, Florence, Rock Hill, Darlington, Aiken, Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg.

Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been included among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008 and we have been named a North Carolina "Best Law Firm" for personal injury law by U.S. News & World Report since 2010. In addition, Rick and Jim have been selected by the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009 and our firm has the highest rating of AV from national lawyer ranking organization Martindale-Hubbell. That means we have a reputation for demonstrating preeminent legal skill.

While not every injury case meets our criteria, we offer a free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll-free at (800) 752-0042. If you cannot get through due to high call volume, please leave a voicemail and so we can return your call promptly.

Elizabeth City, NC Personal Injury Attorneys
North Carolina (NC) Personal Injury Lawyers
Specializing in North Carolina Wrongful Death & Injury Law

There are no comments.

Search Our Site

Get help Now!

Practice Areas

Mass Transit (Airline, Train, Bus)

Shattered: Study Reveals Glass Cockpits Don’t Improve Safety

Post a comment