The carriage of traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) equipment is not mandatory in Australian aircraft. However, many Australian and foreign registered aircraft operating in Australian controlled airspace are equipped with TCAS because of their compliance with a US requirement when operating in American airspace.

A total of 157 TCAS-related air safety occurrences were reported in Australian airspace during 1993 and 1994. The circumstances of these events, and the views of the pilots and air traffic controllers involved in the occurrences, were examined in detail.

Early versions of TCAS produced nuisance or unnecessary warnings, but later software has almost eliminated these problems. TCAS has had a positive safety benefit in Australia and is considered to be a valuable additional safety net in the Air Traffic Services system.

In June 1995, following a serious breakdown of separation between two passenger jets, BASI made a wide-ranging recommendation to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), calling for the fitment of airborne collision avoidance systems to all aircraft engaged in regular public transport (RPT) operations. In November 1996, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) released a legislative instrument proposal dealing with the introduction of TCAS equipment to certain commercial transport aeroplanes.

On 24 December 1995 an Australian ibis was ingested into the engine of an Airbus A300 on take-off from Coolangatta Airport. The damage to the engine was extensive.

Bird strikes are a continual hazard for aircraft operations, particularly during the take-off and landing phases. The Bureau's database contains the birdstrike reports shown in appendix 1, tables IA, 1 B and 1 C for the years 1993, 1994 and 1995. It should be noted that the requirement for reporting birdstrike occurrences which did not involve aircraft damage was terminated in 1991. Prior to 1991 all bird-strike occurrences were reported to the Bureau and forwarded to the Civil Aviation Authority's Bird Hazard Investigation Unit.

The regional airline industry is an integral part of the Australian air transport system, and is particularly important in rural and remote areas. The industry has a major role in supplementing the high capacity airlines and providing feeder services into the capital cities.

The accident rate for regional airlines has remained relatively stable since 1990, although it is higher than the rate for high capacity air transport.

Partly as a result of a small number of highly publicised fatal accidents involving regional airlines, there has been considerable debate about safety standards within this sector of the industry both in Australia and overseas. BASI believes that there are opportunities for improving the safety levels of regional airlines through the identification of safety issues before they result in serious incidents or accidents.

Discussions with industry personnel have highlighted a range of issues which they believe need attention. This preliminary report outlines the issues raised.

During 1992 and 1993 there was an increase in the frequency of reported occurrences involving co-ordination between Australian and Indonesian ATS. Although some involved aircraft travelling from Australia to Indonesia, the majority (92%) involved aircraft travelling from Indonesian airspace into the Australian FIR.

The CAA Australia and the Indonesia Directorate General of Air Communications are signatories on a LOA between the two countries. This LOA supplements ICAO documents in respect to separation standards and co-ordination procedures and is - updated periodically. The latest update was on 18 December 1993 (see Appendix 1).

The CAA have sent a series of delegations to Indonesia to liaise with their ATS authorities. These visits have included several briefing sessions to all levels of Indonesian ATS from the Director Aviation Safety to operational controllers. Specific attention has been paid to boundary conflict situations and the importance of correct and timely co-ordination, all of which are covered in the LOA. In August 1992, a major visit to the Indonesia was undertaken by CAA staff which resulted in 16 recommendations and 10 observations (see Appendix 2). These were accepted by the Indonesian authorities. In December 1993 another visit took place involving CAA supervisory field staff, managers and representatives of the CAA Quality Assurance section.

Maintenance constitutes a significant and rising cost to the airline industry. In the USA, maintenance costs are increasing as a proportion of airline operating costs. In 1989 maintenance constituted 11-8% of US airline operating costs or greater than US$8 billion per year (Shepherd 1991). The annual cost to the Australian airline industry is likely to be in the order of A$500 million per year.

One of the most significant factors in the formulation of safe flying habits and good airmanship is the quality of ab-initio flying training. It is therefore important for anyone involved in ab-initio training to receive adequate guidance on the required syllabus and the methods of teaching.

In recent years, the Australian flying training industry has been through a large number of changes, with some arising from the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) implementation of a new 'Day-VFR syllabus, and others arising from major changes in the Australian aviation industry. While change has become a way of life for many industries, including aviation, it is important to ensure that student pilot training prepares new pilots for every flight that they will undertake. The syllabus of instruction, as well as the methods by which students are taught, should seek to encourage the development of responsible attitudes and ensure that an adequate knowledge of aviation is acquired. Training of instructors should also adequately prepare them for the task of being a teacher.

This project provides a critical review of the new 'Day-VFR syllabus and highlights some of the deficiencies that BAS1 believes exist in Australian flying training. The major part of this report is concerned with the 'Day-VFR syllabus; however, discussions on the adequacy of instructional methods and techniques, instructor training, and methods of checking and training, are also addressed.

Between January 1979 and May 1993, 35 aircraft accidents occurred in Australia during the take-off phase of flight at night. A primary factor in 15 of these accidents was considered to be some form of visual or sensory illusion, or spatial disorientation.

Investigation files from the 15 accidents were reviewed in an attempt to identify common elements in which spatial disorientation, or a visual or sensory illusion, was thought to be a contributing factor. Data were gathered on pilot characteristics, such as experience and age, as well as on operational information, such as aerodrome type and weather. Relevant regulations pertaining to the operation of aircraft at night and training for night operations were analysed.

The report concludes that the type of pilot training or pilot qualification did not appear to be a common factor in the accidents under consideration. Pilot experience also did not appear to be a factor in the accidents. The absence of adverse weather may be significant in the onset of illusions. Furthermore, it was considered that the absence of both ground lighting and a horizon was paramount in the development of the accidents, while the combination of a limited horizon with no adverse weather was the most probable condition under which illusions were likely to develop.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has commenced the publication of a safety bulletin for the helicopter industry. This follows an external review of the Bureau undertaken in 1999. The review contained a number of recommendations, from which the production of this bulletin has emerged.

The bulletin will be published twice yearly. From time-to-time additional bulletins will be published in response to requests for information on specific subjects from the industry. If a particular problem becomes evident from the ATSB's monitoring of trends in various areas, this too will be included in the bulletin.

The bulletin is composed of 6 parts. These parts are:

• Current accident and incident trends covering the helicopter industry. Also trends in various areas will be presented.
• Selected occurrence reports from the Bureau's database that involve helicopter operations.
• Safety Recommendations that are likely to either directly or indirectly affect helicopter operations and the background behind the recommendation.
• A summary of CAIR reports.
• Selected overseas occurrences that have either a safety message or are of interest to the helicopter industry.
• Information about the ATSB website and other activities that the Bureau is undertaking that are of interest to the helicopter industry.

The introduction of new technology to aviation has generally resulted in benefits to safety and efficiency but has also resulted in a range of new human factors and operational difficulties. BASl's Advanced Aircraft Research Project began in response to a number of perceived problems, which included data entry errors, monitoring failures, mode selection errors and the inappropriate manipulation of automated systems.

For the purpose of this study, advanced technology aircraft, or automated aircraft, are defined as aircraft equipped with cathode ray tubes/liquid crystal displays and flight management systems, such as Boeing 737-300, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777, Airbus A310, A320 and A340.

The Australian Air Traffic Service (ATS) system provided by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for the provision of a safe, efficient, and cost-effective air traffic control and advisory service to the aviation industry within domestic and international (oceanic) airspace.

This BASI study conducted during 1992 was aimed at understanding the organisational factors and system characteristics, and the underlying failures which lead to certain ATS occurrences. BASI's endeavour was to provide the CAA with a method which would allow the cause of a particular problem to be tracked to its origin. Thus, potential remedial action could be applied at the source of the problem.