Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is leading landmark efforts to prevent the two major causes of commercial-aviation fatalities: controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and approach-and-landing accidents (ALAs). The Foundation in the early 1990s mounted a major attack on these two killers, which together accounted for 80 percent of fatalities in commercial transport-aircraft accidents from 1979 through 1991.CFIT occurs when an airworthy aircraft under the control of the flight crew is flown unintentionally into terrain, obstacles or water, usually with no prior awareness by the crew. This type of accident can occur during most phases of flight, but CFIT is more common during the approach-and-landing phase, which begins when an airworthy aircraft under the control of the flight crew descends below 5,000 feet above ground level (AGL) with the intention to conduct an approach and ends when the landing is complete or the flight crew flies the aircraft above 5,000 feet AGL en route to another airport.
The FSF-led international CFIT Task Force, created in 1992, set as its five-year goal a 50 percent reduction in CFIT accidents. Among large commercial jet airplanes, seven CFIT accidents occurred in 1992; five CFIT accidents occurred in 1993; four CFIT accidents occurred in both 1994 and 1995; three CFIT accidents occurred in 1996 and 1997; seven CFIT accidents occurred in 1998; one CFIT accident occurred in 1999; three occurred in 2000; two occurred in 2001; and four (data through Sept. 1, 2002) occurred in 2002.
http://www.flightsafety.org/cfit4.html