Section 21 (2) of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) empowers the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to discontinue an investigation into a transport safety matter at any time. Section 21 (3) of the TSI Act requires the ATSB to publish a statement setting out the reasons for discontinuing an investigation.
On 25 March 2014, the ATSB commenced an investigation into a reported controlled airspace infringement involving an unknown hot air balloon, west of Maitland Airport, New South Wales, on 22 March 2014.
Examination of the information collected during the investigation indicated that the balloon did not enter controlled airspace and that the event did not constitute a Transport Safety Matter under the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003.
On that basis, the ATSB has decided to discontinue the investigation.