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Over the past decade, the aircraft accident rate, expressed in losses per
100,000 departures, which had previously been improving continuously since
the end of World War II, has levelled off and is now essentially stable.
Therefore it is understandable that as the industry grows and departures increase,
the total number of accidents will also increase. While the current rate of accidents
is at an all-time low, it is assumed that any appreciable increase in the total number
of accidents would be unacceptable to the general public. To avoid this situation, we
will need to reduce the accident rate even still.
Considerably, the steady improvement in the accident rate was attributable to
improvements to technology, such as the introduction of more reliable engines and
navigation systems. However, the majority of today’s accidents can be attributed to
human or organizational factors. With a few notable exceptions, there is little
opportunity for technological solutions to the types of accidents. Safety management
systems, on the other hand, offer the most promising means of preventing these types
of accidents.
The following outlines SMS development in Civil Aviation:
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