Controlled Flight Into Terrain

CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) is an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under the control of the flight crew, is inadvertently flown into terrain, water, or an obstacle. The crew is typically unaware of the impending collision until it is too late to recover.

CFIT has historically been one of the leading causes of fatal commercial aviation accidents. Contributing factors include:

• Loss of situational awareness (especially at night or in IMC)
• Navigation errors or incorrect altimeter settings
• Failure to follow published approach procedures
• Non-precision approaches in mountainous terrain
• Fatigue and crew resource management failures

The aviation industry has dramatically reduced CFIT accidents through the introduction of GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) and its enhanced successor EGPWS (Enhanced GPWS), which uses a terrain database to provide predictive warnings. ICAO mandates TAWS (Terrain Awareness and Warning System) for all turbine-powered aircraft with more than 5 passenger seats.