The June 1, 2009 crash of Air France 447 was a tragedy that put the spotlight on loss of control inflight (LOC-I) accidents, but in no way was it unusual, rare, or unique. That accident is widely considered the watershed moment that finally energized the industry to formalize and even codify formal upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT) for airline pilots. But a decade later, LOC-I accidents remain a leading cause of fatalities in commercial aviation and now evidence points to an increase of these events in business aviation.
In the past two years, two Bombardier Challengers have crashed as the result of inflight upset events. These were the worst two business jet accidents recorded during that period, and in each case the accident profiles were eerily similar to those of Air France 447.
Pilot, safety expert, consultant, and aviation journalist Stuart “Kipp” Lau writes about flight safety and airmanship for AIN.
More In Accidents
