Reducing the controlled flight into terrain risk by human error management

In the iight of the tatest airline scheduled airline traffic growth forccasts, significant improvements will have to be introduced to maintain the public's confidence in the safety of air travel. So-called Controlled Flight Into Terrain, in which airworthy aircraft are inadvertently flown into the terrain (or water) with little or no awareness by the pilots, cause the major part of airline passenger and crew fatalities today. This paper categorises the causes leading to this specific type of aircraft accident and suggests improvements in the area of cockpit manmachine-interface and waming system improvements capable of reducing the CHI-rate in future.