The ATSB has released an update to the Aviation Occurrence Statistics report with the inclusion of 2019 aviation activity data (hours flown and aircraft departures) not available at time of initial publication.
ATSB Director Transport Safety, Dr Stuart Godley said the earlier report published in April contained 10 years of occurrence data from 2010 to 2019, but that aviation activity data (used to calculate rates) was only available from 2014–2018.
“The addition of last year’s aviation activity data allows for accident rates to be presented for the period 2014–2019,” said Dr Godley.
“Accident rates (accidents per hour flow or departure) is an important measure for the level of risk associated with different aviation activities and allows for a comparison between activities.”
The updated statistics shows that aviation activity involving test and ferry flights, aircraft registered with Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus), followed by pleasure and personal transport, had the highest accident rates over 2014–2019.
For aircraft types of aircraft, recreational aeroplanes followed by commercial balloons are shown to have the highest accident rates, with recreational aeroplanes also having the highest fatal accident rate.
Dr Godley explained that in order to provide more timely information to industry, the Aviation Occurrence Statistics report will now be published bi-annually, with the data published earlier in the year to include occurrence data (number of occurrences) for the previous year followed by an update later in the year including updated activity data.
“Both occurrence data and rate data are important tools for assessing the safety risk of aviation activity by providing two reports the ATSB aims to present safety information in a timely and relevant manner to industry,” he said.
The updated edition also incorporates interactive web versions of all tables and graphs to allow the user to display aviation occurrence data in the format of their choice.
Read the report AR-2020-047: Aviation Occurrence Statistics (rates update) 2010 to 2019