Shut calls and onerous classes: A wake-up name for international aviation

In an period of rising international air visitors, aviation security is dealing with unprecedented scrutiny. A sequence of incidents—from the tragic
Air India Flight 171 crash
to near-misses and mid-air emergencies—has triggered pressing conversations throughout the trade.

Whereas some airways reply with heartfelt resolve, others are turning to cutting-edge applied sciences. Collectively, these developments level to a important inflection level for aviation: a complete, technology-enabled and emotionally clever strategy to airline security.

Shut calls and onerous classes

Current occasions have thrown a highlight on the fragility of aviation security methods, notably when excessive quantity, human error or unexpected technical failures come into play. Air India Flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed on June 12, killing 279 individuals together with 241 passengers. The tragedy has not solely despatched shockwaves by way of the Indian aviation sector but in addition deeply shaken Air India’s workforce.

Air India chairman N Chandrasekaran, in an tackle to 700 workers, described the crash as “essentially the most heartbreaking” incident of his profession. Whereas commending workers for his or her braveness, he urged them to remain robust amid mounting criticism, noting, “We have to use this incident as a driving pressure to create a safer airline.”

He emphasised that aviation is a fancy system crammed with layers of checks and balances—and even so, accidents can nonetheless happen.

In the meantime, throughout the Atlantic, Southwest Airways is demonstrating a distinct strategy—investing in prevention quite than responding to disaster.

The function of expertise

Stories say Southwest Airways has begun putting in a brand new Honeywell-designed cockpit alert system—Runway Consciousness and Advisory System (RAAS)—throughout its all-Boeing 737 fleet. The system delivers verbal and textual content alerts to warn pilots when they’re trying to take off from a taxiway or are approaching a runway incorrectly, thereby addressing a spread of situational hazards.

This transfer follows a March 20-incident at Orlando Worldwide Airport, the place a Southwest aircraft mistakenly started takeoff from a taxiway as a substitute of a runway. An air visitors controller caught the error in time, averting a possible catastrophe.

Had the Honeywell system been lively, the pilots would probably have obtained an automatic warning—“On taxiway! On taxiway!”—that might have corrected their course even earlier, the Wall Avenue Journal reported.

As Southwest COO Andrew Watterson informed the Wall Avenue Journal, the system acts as a important security layer: “It’s a actually highly effective software… so as to add extra boundaries to doubtlessly unhealthy outcomes.”

Systemic overload: A crisis-filled weekend in Indian skies

Whereas Southwest’s strategy showcases security innovation, the Indian aviation sector endured a barrage of operational crises following the Air India crash. Inside simply 36 hours, 4 separate in-flight emergencies had been reported, elevating widespread considerations about preparedness and security tradition.

On June 16, an Air India Specific flight to Ranchi returned to Delhi after technical points had been detected shortly after takeoff. That very same day, an Air India flight from Hong Kong to Delhi needed to flip again as a consequence of a suspected technical snag. Air India later confirmed the Boeing 787 plane landed safely and was being inspected as a precaution.

In one more episode, a Lufthansa flight enroute to Hyderabad from Frankfurt turned again after a bomb menace was obtained mid-air. Passengers had been safely screened upon return and investigations are underway.

In the meantime, a British F-35 fighter jet made an emergency touchdown in Kerala as a consequence of low gas—prompting full emergency protocols at Thiruvananthapuram Airport.

Though none of those incidents resulted in accidents, the sheer quantity and timing have amplified public anxiousness and examined the resilience of operational frameworks.

Merging human vigilance and technological precision

The necessity for real-time, fail-safe cockpit interventions has by no means been extra pressing. As Thea Feyereisen, a senior aerospace engineer at Honeywell, informed the Wall Avenue Journal, these near-misses “occur greater than we need to suppose that they occur.” Honeywell’s RAAS has been praised for stopping runway misidentifications, together with these at main US airports like San Francisco, the place an Air Canada jet almost landed on a taxiway lined with 4 different plane in 2017.

The Nationwide Transportation Security Board concluded in 2018 that Honeywell’s alert system might have warned the Air Canada pilots in time to keep away from the near-tragedy.

At Southwest, even pilots who initially fearful that the alerts may turn out to be distracting have since embraced them. Captain Jody Reven, president of the Southwest Airways Pilots Affiliation, said: “It will get your consideration. It’s not so necessary in Midland, Texas, however if you’re in Philly or L.A., it’s an amazing added software” (Wall Avenue Journal, June 17).

Nonetheless, these technological upgrades are solely as efficient because the tradition that surrounds them. Chandrasekaran’s message to Air India workers—stressing unity, accountability and emotional resilience—displays the human aspect of the protection equation. He emphasised that whereas nothing might undo the ache of the misplaced lives, workers should channel their grief into objective and motion.

Regulation, retrofitting and the coverage vacuum

Regardless of rising proof that cockpit alert methods like RAAS can save lives, their adoption stays inconsistent. In August 2024, an FAA advisory panel really helpful that such methods be required on newly produced plane—however stopped wanting calling for retrofitting older fleets. An FAA spokesperson informed the Wall Avenue Journal that the company continues to be reviewing the proposal.

That ambiguity leaves security as a matter of airline discretion. Whereas some like Southwest and Alaska Airways are investing within the Honeywell system, others could delay as a consequence of prices, operational disruptions, or competing priorities. But, as historical past reveals—from the 2006 Comair crash in Lexington, Kentucky, to the 2017 San Francisco near-miss—errors in runway navigation are a long-standing threat.

Proactive or reactive? A defining second for aviation security

Whether or not it’s a pilot listening to “On taxiway!” earlier than a deadly mistake, or a CEO urging workers to endure amid public grief, the message is identical: security should evolve from a reactive observe right into a predictive science. Expertise, when paired with coaching, consciousness, and institutional transparency, can shift aviation towards that future.

As air journey booms and operational pressures enhance, each governments and airways should ask a important query: can we await accidents to show us, or can we forestall them with each software we’ve got?