A media conference discussing the factual information contained in the preliminary report into the circumstances surrounding the fatal aircraft accident near Lockhart River on 7 May 2005 will be held today, Friday 3 June 2005.

Where: 15 Mort Street, Canberra City ACT (ATSB headquarters)

Time: 15:00 local time

Mr Alan Stray, Deputy Director, Aviation Safety Investigation, will discuss only factual material known to the investigation team at this time.

Any person/witness with information about the accident is encouraged to contact the ATSB on 1800 020 616 and will be put in touch with an investigator.

Media contact will continue to be with the Bureau's central office, details below.

A media conference discussing the progress of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal Citabria aircraft accident near the town of Stonefield in South Australia on Sunday 15 May 2005 will be held today, Monday 16 May 2005.

Where: Liebig Road, Stonefield (approximately 18 kms past the town of Truro)

Time: 15:30 local time (CST)

Mr Bryan Aherne, the Investigator in Charge, will discuss only verified factual material known to the investigation team at the time.

Any person/witness with information about the accident is encouraged to contact the ATSB on 1800 020 616 and will be put in touch with an investigator.

With the exception of this media conference all media contact will continue to be with the Bureau's central office, details below.

A media conference discussing the factual information contained in the report and the progress of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Piper Chieftain fatal accident on 2 December 2005 will be held on, Tuesday 31 January 2006.

Where: Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour SYDNEY

(Rotor Tech 2006 - Hall 3 ATSB Booth No.2)

Time: 15:00 (local time)

Mr Alan Stray, Deputy Director, Aviation Safety Investigation will discuss the factual material contained in the report and progress of the investigation.

The 'Black Box' flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the fatal Metroliner aircraft accident near Lockhart River on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland are arriving at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau headquarters at 15 Mort St in Canberra at 7 pm today, Monday 9 May 2005.

The ATSB will provide the opportunity for a photo shoot (only) of the recorders arrival.

Channel 9 and The Australian Newspaper have agreed to film/photograph the recorders on a pool basis and make it available to all media outlets. Please note, due to space and security requirements this will be a strictly controlled shoot and limited to the two nominated photographers.

Accordingly you should make arrangements with those media organisations to obtain your copy.

A media conference discussing the progress of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Cessna 206 fatal accident on 2 January 2006 will be held today, Tuesday 3 January 2006

Where: 15 Mort Street, Canberra City ACT (ATSB headquarters)

Time: 12:00 local time

Mr Alan Stray, Deputy Director, Aviation Safety Investigation, will discuss factual material known to the investigation team at this time and will outline the investigation process.

Any person/witness with information about the accident is encouraged to contact the ATSB on 1800 020 616 and will be put in touch with an investigator.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating a fatal aviation accident involving a Cessna 310R aircraft, VH-FIN, which occurred near Tamworth, New South Wales at about 1.30 pm local time, 7 March 2005.

The ATSB will be conducting a media conference near the accident site at 1 pm today, 8 March. This will be the only onsite interview provided by the investigation team. All other interviews will be through the ATSB's central office, details below.

The media are invited to meet the investigator in charge at the front gate of the Rose Hill property, 7 km west of Tamworth on the New Winton Road.

When: 13:00 local time (NSW) today, 8 March 2005.

Where: Rose Hill property - 7 km west of Tamworth, New South Wales (accident site).

The ATSB has released a second interim factual report on the Piper Cheyenne accident on 28 July 2004 in which the pilot and five passengers died.

The ATSB has established that the aircraft diverged between 3.4 and 4 degrees left of the intended track between a point abeam Ulladulla and where it disappeared from radar.

The ATSB is conducting further tests of the modes and functionality of the GPS receiver type that was used on the aircraft, to determine if the flight path can be replicated with a copy of the data used by the pilot.

The damaged GPS data card has been sent to the Bureau d'Enqutes et d'Analyses (the French equivalent of the ATSB) for further detailed examination.

The air traffic control Route Adherence Monitoring (RAM) system issued three alerts that the aircraft had diverged from its planned track between Ulladulla and Benalla.

The air traffic control air situation display provides controllers with an automatically triggered alert when a variation is detected by radar, between the planned track and the actual track being flown.

The controllers' response to the RAM alerts is still being investigated.

The investigation is continuing.

The interim factual investigation report (200402797) is available from the website, or from the Bureau on request.

The ATSB has released a Preliminary Investigation Report into an 11 October 2004 Boeing 737 incident at Perth when the aircraft's tailskid struck the ground during the takeoff from runway 03.

The tailskid strike resulted in minor damage to the tailskid shoe at the rear lower fuselage. The crew and passengers were not injured.

The ATSB has classified this occurrence as a category 3 serious incident. The investigation is continuing and is analysing recorded weather information and data from the aircraft's flight data recorder.

Any necessary safety action that arises from the investigation will be recommended immediately and not held until the final report.

The ATSB report 200403868 is available from the website.