The ATSB receives around 15,000 notifications of aviation
occurrences each year; 8,000 of which are accidents, serious
incidents and incidents. It is from the information provided in
these notifications that the ATSB makes a decision on whether or
not to investigate. While further information is sought in some
cases to assist in making those decisions, resource constraints
dictate that a significant amount of professional judgement needs
to be exercised.
There are times when more detailed information about the
circumstances of the occurrence would have allowed the ATSB to make
a more informed decision both about whether to investigate at all
and, if so, what necessary resources were required (investigation
level). In addition, further publicly available information on
accidents and serious incidents would increase safety awareness in
the industry and enable improved research activities and analysis
of safety trends, leading to more targeted safety education.
To enable this, the Chief Commissioner has established a small
team to manage and process these factual investigations, the Level
5 Investigation Team. The primary objective of the team is to
undertake limited-scope, fact-gathering investigations, which
result in a short summary report. The summary report is a
compilation of the information the ATSB has gathered, sourced from
individuals or organisations involved in the occurrences, on the
circumstances surrounding the occurrence and what safety action may
have been taken or identified as a result of the occurrence. In
addition, the ATSB may include an ATSB Comment that is a
safety message directed to the broader aviation community.
The summary reports detailed herein were compiled from
information provided to the ATSB by individuals or organisations
involved in an accident or serious incident between the period 1
October 2010 and 31 December 2010.