The reporting of aviation safety occurrences enables the
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to investigate accidents
and serious incidents and monitor safety through the analysis of
any trends. On 1 July 2003 the Transport Safety Investigation
Act 2003 came into effect, introducing the terms immediately
reportable and routine reportable matters (IRMs and RRMs,
respectively).
This report examines trends in IRMs that involved regular public
transport operations and provides a context for interpreting any
changes over time. The aim is to inform the aviation community of
any important safety trends, and to provide the travelling public
with a better appreciation of the types of occurrences that are
reported to the ATSB.
The study found that high capacity regular public transport
operations dominated air transport activity, and consequently
dominated the reports of IRM occurrences. Furthermore, activity for
high capacity air transport operations, measured by flying hours
and movements, increased over the period studied.
The IRM categories examined were either stable or trended
downwards between mid 2001 and mid 2006. Violations of controlled
airspace reduced over the period while occurrences involving a
fire, explosion or fumes and crew injuries or incapacitation also
decreased, but only marginally. Other IRM categories such as
contained engine failures and fuel exhaustion events were rare, or
absent. The exception was breakdowns of separation (BOS) and
airprox events, where occurrence numbers went up. However, the rate
did not increase relative to the number of movements, suggesting
that the increase was largely linked to increased activity.
This review highlighted the consistent reporting culture of the
air transport sector and the air traffic service provider, and
provided encouraging data concerning the general state of safety in
regular public transport operations