Controlled flight into terrain

In aviation, a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT; usually /ˈsiːfɪt/ SEE-fit) is an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, fully under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of water or an obstacle.^[1][2] In a typical CFIT scenario, the crew is unaware of the impending collision until impact, or it is too late to avert. The term was coined by engineers at Boeing in the late 1970s.^[3]

Accidents where the aircraft is out of control at the time of impact, because of mechanical failure or pilot error, are classified instead as uncontrolled flight into terrain, or UFIT. Incidents resulting from the deliberate action of the person at the controls, such as a forced landing, an act of terrorism, or suicide by pilot, are also excluded from the definition of CFIT.

According to Boeing in 1997, CFIT was a leading cause of airplane accidents involving the loss of life, causing over 9,000 deaths since the beginning of the commercial jet aircraft.^[4] CFIT was identified as a cause of 25% of USAF Class A mishaps between 1993 and 2002.^[5] According to data collected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) between 2008 and 2017, CFITs accounted for six percent of all commercial aircraft accidents, and was categorized as "the second-highest fatal accident category after Loss of Control Inflight (LOC-I)".^[2]