March 13, 2026
Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) technology has driven a 98% reduction in airline controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) incidents over the past two decades – yet business aviation remains at risk.
Flight Safety Foundation Aviation Safety Network data shows that from 2017 to 2025, 38 fixed-wing turbojet or turboprop aircraft were involved in accidents, killing 114 people, with 33 of those accidents occurring during the enroute or approach phase.
NBAA has updated its CFIT resources with new training scenarios and case studies to help operators address the issue and has included a brief survey to better understand the human factors involved in compliance with alerts from TAWS and ground proximity warning systems (GPWS).
Review NBAA’s CFIT awareness and prevention resources.
“Based on industry data reviewed by our working group, response rates are generally quite poor,” said Richard Meikle, lead of the CFIT Working Group of the NBAA Safety Committee and executive vice president, safety at NetJets. “It really doesn’t seem to matter whether you are in visual or instrument conditions, night or day, mountainous or flat terrain.”
The survey is intended to better understand the thought processes behind why pilots don’t respond in a timely manner. “There are indications to suggest crew members believe they have more time than they actually do to respond to such warnings,” Meikle added, “or that they don’t view the warnings as legitimate. Pilots generally understand the integration of TAWS with other airplane-specific systems, but they don’t necessarily get instruction on the logic associated with TAWS protections.”
Flight crews may also feel frustrated by what they perceive as nuisance or unnecessary terrain warnings.
“We want to know where pilots are experiencing these alerts,” said Mark Larsen, CAM, NBAA director of safety and flight operations. “For example, pilot submissions to the FAA’s Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) program noted TAWS alerts when on an extended visual approach to Henderson Executive Airport (HND) near Las Vegas.”
The updated CFIT resources also include new case studies and insights into the factors that contribute to these accidents.
“The CFIT Working Group created training scenarios on the basis of those case studies that instructors could use with students in the sim,” Larsen added. “We wanted to call out various situations pilots may encounter.”
For example, Meikle detailed one scenario based on a high-profile event in Paris. “In the training scenario, pilots are given the wrong altimeter setting while flying a LNAV/VNAV approach,” he explained. “This lets them see how the error could put the aircraft in peril.
“It’s eye-opening to everybody when the flight instruments are showing the aircraft on the correct path,” he concluded, “but due to an incorrect altimeter setting, they are actually leading you to a potential CFIT accident.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.