The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has released its latest Aviation Occurrence Statistics report, covering the 10-year period from 2010 to 2019.
“Each year, thousands of safety occurrences involving Australian aircraft and foreign‑registered aircraft operating in Australia are reported to the ATSB,” said Dr Stuart Godley, ATSB Director Transport Safety.
“This report is part of a series that aims to provide information and statistical data to the aviation industry, manufacturers and policy makers, as well as to the travelling and general public, about these aviation safety occurrences. In particular, the data can be used to determine what can be learned to improve transport safety in the aviation sector.”
This latest Aviation Occurrence Statistics report notes that there have been no fatalities in scheduled commercial air transport in Australia since 2005, while that over the 10-year 2010-2019 period, the number of general aviation fatalities and fatal accidents decreased, and the number of fatalities and fatal accidents within the recreation aviation sector remained relatively constant.
The study uses information over the 10-year period from 2010–2019 to provide an insight into current and possible future trends in aviation safety.
The study uses information over the 10-year period from 2010–2019 to provide an insight into current and possible future trends in aviation safety, Dr Godley explained.
“For example, since 2016, remotely piloted aircraft have surpassed helicopters to become the second most common aircraft type involved in an accident. Further, the number of manned aircraft experiencing near encounters with an RPA also increased significantly over the study period.”
Dr Godley also noted that for the first time, statistics in this report have been organised around the type of aircraft activity being conducted, rather than the operational regulation.
“An activity type reflects the activity the aircraft was engaged in, while an operation type reflects the legal regulation that the aircraft was flown under,” he said.
“For instance, all ferry flights are now recorded under the same activity irrespective of whether the ferry flight was a positioning flight for a commercial air transport passenger flight or an aerial work flight.”
The report 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-2020-014: Aviation Occurrence Statistics 2010 to 2019