GCAA report: “mandate the implementation of vision assurance devices or technology for improved pilot visibility during continuous smoke”

VisionSafe is reminded today of the tragic loss of the lives of the UPS 6 flight crew. VisionSafe appreciates the hard and complex work done by the accident investigators who contributed to the investigation of UPS 6 accident and who helped GCAA conclude this phase of the process.

All too often we find that the focus on the critical instance that ultimately sets off a chain of events leading to accidents becomes the only focus of accident reports. We respect the need for this clarity and the requirement to draw conclusions. These are scientific reports and thus they require this objective and un-assuming approach.

Life does not function this way and we can never eliminate risk itself. For this reason aircraft carry crash axes, life rafts, life jackets, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, defibrillators, aisle path lighting, oxygen mask, smoke hoods, smoke goggles, flashlights, bull horns, and dozens of other pieces of equipment designed to assist in the preservation of life, and to provide vital life support when things go wrong.

VisionSafe’s Founder and its chief inventor Bertil Werjefelt has been creating life support and lifesaving safety equipment for more than 30 years www.visionsafe.com. His work has focused on the protection of basic fundamental needs of passengers and crewmembers – that they are able to breathe and to see at all times in all conditions. The ability to breathe is of course fundamental – passengers or crewmember who can’t breathe will not survive. This is also true for vision; a passenger who can’t see, can’t evacuate the aircraft. A pilot who can’t see – can’t fly, and no matter how many redundant systems or technologies we use – fundamentally a pilot must be able to breathe and see to function.

When pilots can’t breathe or see they are incapacitated. And the aviation industry must take steps to give pilots these fundamental life support tools – otherwise all of the other tools will not matter.

So today we are realizing a new and promising era of accident reports that go beyond the direct science and beyond the “point of ignition”. What we see here in this report are solutions to the fundamental issues faced by crews who need to breathe and see in order to survive no matter what caused the safety problem.

We applaud the government of the U.A.E. and the GCAA for taking the investigation and completing the task by including these recommendations and requirements to insure that all of the citizens of our world benefit from the knowledge and experience gained in this tragic loss.