Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards pp 34–39Cite as

Aviation (Hazards to)

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 534 Accesses

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

  • Aviation. Worldwide commercial and noncommercial flying aircraft.

  • Hazard. Weather condition that impacts the safe flight of an aircraft. Such conditions include phenomena as strong wind, turbulence, clear-air turbulence, wind shear, downbursts, strong convection, storms, heavy precipitation, hail, lightning, icing, snow, fog, sandstorm, volcanic ash, and aircraft wake vortices.

Introduction

Aircraft by definition move through airspace. Therefore, the natural hazards to aviation described in this section are atmospheric events, collectively called weather. The safety (and efficiency) of flight in general is most influenced by weather events. “No other industry is more sensitive to weather than the aeronautical industry” (Sprinkle and Macleod, 1991). Although weather can be observed and forecast with considerable accuracy, adverse weather still has a large impact to operational safety and efficiency. The bulk of the fatal accidents in aviation are associated with visual...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   649.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Betz, H. D., Schumann, U., and Laroche, P. (eds.), 2009. Lightning: Principles, Instruments and Applications. Heidelberg: Springer, 641 pp. ISBN 978-1-4020-9078-3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boeing, 2005. Statistical summary of commercial jet airplane accidents – worldwide operations 1959–2004. Available from Internet: http://www.boeing.com/news/techissues/.

  • Chambers, R., 2003. Concept to Reality: Contributions of the NASA Langley Research Center to United States Civil Aircraft of the 1990s. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 301 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. E., 2006. The weather impact on aviation. In Proceedings of the American Meteorological Society Conferences on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology. MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

    Google Scholar 

  • FAA, 1997. CNN – A primer on air turbulence – December 29, 1997. Available from World Wide Web: http://cgi.cnn.com/US/9712/29/turbulence.explainer/.

  • FAA, 1999. Appendix C, Airworthiness standard: transport category airplanes, Part 25, Aeronautics and space. U.S. Code of Regulations, Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (Available from Superintendent of Documents). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, Vol. 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • FAA, 2005. Preventing injuries caused by turbulence. U.S. Department of Transportation – Federal Aviation Administration, Advisory Circular No. 120-88, 28 pp. Available from Internet: http://www2.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAdvisoryCircular.nsf/0/47baa2ba78366a0a862570b4007670f2/$FILE/AC120-88.pdf.

  • Gerz, T., Holzäpfel, F., and Darracq, D., 2002. Commercial aircraft wake vortices. Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 38, 181–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, M. L., Huffman, A. W., Lux, K. M., Charney, J. J., Riordan, A. J., and Lin, Y.-L., 2005. Characterizing the severe turbulence environments associated with commercial aviation accidents. Part 1: A 44-case study synoptic observational analyses. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 88, 129–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NTSB, 2007. Query for weather related accidents between 2004 and 2007 (Online). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp.

  • Sprinkle, C. H., and Macleod, K. J., 1991. Impact of weather on aviation: a global view. In Preprints of 4th International Conference on Aviation Weather Systems, June 24–28, Paris, France. AMS, Boston, MA, pp. 191–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Theusner, M., and Röhner, P., 2006. Report on weather hazards, weather impact areas and evaluation methods. Report FLY_210UNI_DEL_D2.1-1 of Project FLYSAFE, 98 pp.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. DLR, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany

    Dr. Thomas Gerz & Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schumann

Authors
  1. Dr. Thomas Gerz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schumann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Gerz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Gerz, T., Schumann, U. (2013). Aviation (Hazards to). In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation