Ensuring Passenger Safety on Overwater Routes

The safety of air travel has come under question as headlines of crashes and broken components have populated the news. Amid this trend, it’s more important than ever to reassure passengers and ensure their well-being throughout the duration of their travel. That applies to any journey, but overwater flight safety deserves special attention.

While 53% of airplane accidents happen during landing, overwater routes pose particular challenges. Oceans and large lakes may be more prone to harsh weather. Even if the risk of a crash or emergency landing is low, such an incident would present unique dangers compared to over-land flights. Consequently, pilots and crewmembers must consider several overwater safety steps.

Check the Weather

The first and most critical step in overwater flight safety is to verify weather conditions before takeoff. Storms often intensify over warm waters, posing additional threats than what planes may face on land, where storms weaken without the presence of moisture and warmth.

Remember that air pressures and winds can change quickly over water, especially near coasts or large currents. Experienced pilots should be able to adapt, but preparation is key. Review forecasts and look at the radar to know what may be incoming during the flight.

Crews should pay special attention to the weather near any coastal airports within their flight path. Suboptimal conditions at these destinations may warrant a delay or alternate route to keep passengers as safe as possible.

Consider Flight-Specific Risks

As crews prepare for takeoff, it’s important to review flight-specific hazards. Different bodies of water pose varying dangers. Not accounting for the discrepancies could result in poor decision-making or failure to prepare properly for an emergency.

Water temperatures are among the most critical factors to consider. Warmer tropical waters are more survivable in the event of a crash, as hypothermia is less prevalent a concern. However, they also make hurricanes and similar storms a greater threat. By contrast, storms are less common over colder oceans, but a crash will carry extra threats through exposure to the elements.

Be sure to stock the aircraft with equipment appropriate for the kinds of environments the flight will travel over. Similarly, the crew should familiarize themselves with best practices for surviving and instructing passengers according to location-specific risks.

Verify All Safety Systems Before Takeoff

As with any trip, overwater flight safety must also include a preflight checklist. More specifically, crewmembers must verify the presence and functionality of all safety equipment to ensure they can respond safely in an emergency.

The FAA requires life rafts for all passengers, and each one needs a few complementary survival items. These include signal flares and a waterproof, buoyant radio. Other features, like covers, storage and thermal blankets, may not be legally mandated but are good to keep on hand to provide maximum protection.

Check the certification date on every safety system to verify they’re still within compliance. Outdated equipment may not perform as intended and, as such, needs replacement before the aircraft can leave.

Avoid Overwater Shortcuts

Pilots can also minimize overwater safety hazards by avoiding them entirely. In many cases, such as journeys from the U.S. to Asia or Europe, crossing large bodies of water is unavoidable. However, it’s not always necessary, and if it isn’t, going a different way could ensure a safer flight.

Generally speaking, planes shouldn’t take shortcuts over water unless an alternative route would be unreasonably long. Flying over the land does not remove all hazards, but it does reduce some. Consequently, there’s little reason to fly through water-related risks if it won’t produce substantial time or fuel savings.

Flying over a river or small lake is safe enough not to worry about such considerations. However, larger bodies of water like oceans can introduce additional environmental dangers, so it’s best not to take shortcuts over them.

Plan an Alternate Route

Similarly, any flight going over a significant body of water should have at least one backup plan. Ocean conditions can change at a moment’s notice, and fuel stops are not as widely available in the open seas as they are over land. Having a pre-chosen alternate route makes it easier to accommodate necessary changes.

Before leaving, pilots must review potential landing spots near their route and any possible alternates. Emergency landing zones should be well within the aircraft’s single-engine operational range. While some planes can fly for several hours on one engine, many conditions can limit these figures, so it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Crews should review the weather and site-specific hazards of their alternate route the same way they do with the primary flight path. The added preparation will provide the greatest possible readiness for worst-case scenarios.

Keep an Eye on Developing Conditions

Overwater flight safety after takeoff generally follows the same best practices as any journey. However, extra attention to changing weather conditions may be necessary.

Severe weather has become five times as common over the past 50 years. Amid this trend, pilots must understand that what they saw before takeoff may not hold true for the duration of the flight. Crews need to be able to respond quickly to sudden storms, and the key to fast reactions is vigilance.

Monitor the radar and other sensor systems continually to catch any troubling trends while they’re still early. Not every change warrants a flight path adjustment, but the earlier the crew can see an issue, the better they can determine the ideal response.

Maintain Communication

Finally, crewmembers must remain in constant communication with air traffic controllers and other stakeholders. Sometimes, the only way to learn of destination-specific weather conditions is by talking with employees on the ground, and the airline must know of any deviations from the flight plan.

Similarly, pilots must inform flight attendants of any changes in course that impact their workflows. In turn, flight attendants should communicate things like turbulence and other safety-affecting situations to the passengers. When anyone does not understand their current circumstance, panic and errors are more likely.

Overwater Flight Safety Carries Unique Considerations

Overwater flights are not inherently dangerous. Still, the added hazards that may arise in a worst-case scenario demand attention.

These seven considerations will help any crew on any aircraft prepare for a safe overwater journey. While the steps may not prevent all emergencies, they maximize passenger safety amid a wide variety of conditions.