The history of helicopters in Australia did not begin until after World War II. Although in 1943 the Amy planned to use helicopters for reconnaissance work in New Guinea, it was not until 1948 that the RAAF received its first helicopters, Sikorsky S51s. Civil helicopters followed in 1956, with the import of a Bristol Sycamore for ANA and a Hiller 12c for TAA early in that year. In May 1956 ANA'S helicopter began operating in Tasmania.

A VCA occurs when a pilot enters controlled airspace without a clearance. Controlled airspace is a section of airspace surrounding an airport with a tower, and/or airspace up to a certain altitude overlying Australia. This airspace may or may not be radar monitored. The controller needs to be aware of all aircraft within his/her section of controlled airspace so as to provide a complete traffic service. Pilots are required to request a clearance before entering the airspace.

Accident, incident and anecdotal evidence indicate that the introduction of new technology to aviation has generally resulted in benefits to safety and efficiency (Norman and Abbott 1988). Information published by Boeing Commercial Airplanes indicates that in general, accident rates have been declining with each successive technological advance over the last thirty years (Boeing 1988). However, new technology has also resulted in a range of new human factors and operational difficulties. New tools invariably change the way a job is done, and new aircraft are no exception. The work of pilots and other airline personnel is being changed by the introduction of new technology and although most of the changes are likely to be beneficial or benign, some may be undesirable.

A Failure to Comply incident is defined as an air safety incident in which flight crew fail to follow an ATS clearance in controlled airspace.

During 1994, BASI recorded an increase in the frequency of incidents involving failures to comply with ATS clearances. This trend continued in 1995, and the largest increase appeared to be associated with the introduction of new arrival and departure procedures at Sydney airport. The Bureau conducted a preliminary study to confirm these trends and concluded that a comprehensive study was necessary.

This report draws on data collected during the comprehensive study of incidents in June, July and August of 1996. The primary data for this study was received through ESIRs and questionnaires completed by the pilots of aircraft involved in FTC incidents.

This report deals with information supplied by respondents to the Advanced Technology Aircraft Safety Survey and provides a detailed analysis of answers to both the 'open' and 'closed' questions.

Accident, incident and anecdotal evidence indicates that the introduction of new technology to aviation has generally resulted in benefits to safety and efficiency (Norman & Abbott 1988) but has also resulted in a range of new human factors and operational difficulties. BASI's advanced technology aircraft research project was begun in response to a number of perceived problems such as data entry errors, monitoring failures, mode selection errors and inappropriate manipulation of automated systems.

Phase 1 of this project included a literature review which identified major concerns with advanced aircraft, including pilot complacency, potential loss of skills, and loss of situational awareness. There have been several previous surveys concerned with advanced technology aircraft safety issues. Wiener (1989) surveyed errors made by pilots of Boeing 757 aircraft and Wiener and others (1991) compared the DC9 with the MD 80, looking at errors in the
operation of both aircraft types.

The threat and error management (TEM) model provides a non-technical tool to help pilots identify and manage threats (hazards) and errors during flight. In preparation for regulatory changes that come into effect in July 2009, the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN) developed a TEM 'train-the-trainer' course for general aviation and low-capacity air transport operations. Between August and October 2007, GAPAN conducted TEM training in 10 locations throughout Australia. Two surveys were administered to TEM course participants by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau: one immediately after the training session and the other about 8 months after the training.

The surveys were designed to elicit information on attitudes towards TEM, organisational safety strategies, and challenges and benefits of implementing TEM. The follow-up survey was constructed to explore whether TEM has been implemented, along with any challenges and benefits found where TEM had been implemented.

Overall, the responses regarding attitudes and intentions of implementing TEM were positive. Eight months after the training, most organisations had implemented TEM and incorporated it into their own training programs. Implementation of TEM into the respondents' organisation was generally considered easy and staff were receptive, with the greatest challenges being time and resources.

Wires have long been recognised as one of the greatest hazards facing aerial-work pilots. The outcome of colliding with wires varies from being harmless to unforgiving. Australia averages 7.6 wire strikes each year. Some of these are fatal with aircraft either substantially damaged or completely destroyed.

In 2009, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) produces its third edition of Australian Aviation Safety in Review as part of its role to enhance public awareness of aviation safety. This Review has been developed to provide a readily accessible analysis of the Australian aviation industry, with a major focus on communicating the key safety trends. This publication covers the major aircraft operation categories of passenger transport (regular public transport and charter) and general aviation. Sport and recreational aviation is also discussed, as is the burgeoning trend towards amateur-built and experimental aircraft.

Demographic and activity data on Australian aviation is presented to provide a context within which to examine accident and incident (occurrence) trends. To enable comparison of occurrence trends across different operational categories, data is provided in terms of actual numbers as well as rates per 100,000 hours flown. The latest year for which flying hours are available is 2007.

A new feature of this edition of the Review is a 10-year look at safety trends, focusing on total occurrences (all incidents and accidents), all accidents, and fatal accidents separately. An exploration behind what occurred (occurrence types) and why they occurred (safety factors) is a major focus of this edition.

While most runway excursions are relatively minor with no serious injuries or aircraft damage occurring, they do have the potential to pose a serious risk to public safety and infrastructure. This has been illustrated by several significant runway overruns around the world in 2007 and 2008, resulting in hundreds of on-board fatalities, as well as ground fatalities and significant property damage in communities adjacent to airports.

Further analysis of the Ascend World Aircraft Accident Summary set of 120 runway excursions on landing involving commercial jet aircraft between 1998 and 2007 (used in the first report in this series), was performed to map the distance that aircraft overran or veered off the runway. Most aircraft stopped within 1,000 ft of the runway end, and within the extended runway edges.

Preventative risk controls are the most important way to reduce the likelihood and consequences of runway excursions. These include reinforcement of safe approach techniques, pre-landing risk assessments, line-oriented flight training, clear policies on go-arounds, quality runway surfaces with safety features such as grooving and surface texturing, runway lighting, and indicators of remaining runway length through distance remaining signs and cockpit alert systems.

If these preventative risk controls fail, recovery risk controls are an important 'last line of defence' to mitigate severe consequences if a runway excursion does occur. Recovery risk controls include runway strips, runway end safety areas, soft ground arrestor beds, and public safety areas. Telephone surveys of 43 major airports found that runway end safety areas in Australia meet or will soon meet Civil Aviation Safety Authority requirements. A large majority of Australian airports had good quality runway surfaces that reduced the risk of a runway excursion occurring in the first place.

The aim of this study was to provide information to the flying community concerning those common errors they perceived to be most detrimental to flight safety. The ATSB sent the 'Aviation Industry Safety Survey' to 5000 commercial pilots throughout Australia in November 2003. The survey asked pilots about their safety experiences during the previous year and to report the most serious error they made or saw during that time. They were also asked to describe briefly what they thought were the main factors contributing to the error and how the situation was recovered. Demographic information concerning pilot age, highest licence qualification held, and type of aircraft flown (rotary or fixed wing) was obtained. Pilots were grouped according to the flying category they most frequently worked in the 12 months preceding the survey: regular public transport, charter, aerial work or private operations. Slight differences were evident among the four flight categories with regard to each of the demographic groups.