Civil Aviation Safety: Part 3 — Prospects of Improvement

In the first two articles the past trends of improvement in air safety were discussed. The indications for the short term future are that replacement of the older aircraft remaining in the world fleets by modern types will lead to continued improvement. However, if an upward trend is to be maintained long term, then new types of aircraft will have to offer specific advances in airworthiness, and in parallel further improvements in operational procedures made. This article looks at the prospects and the constraints.