There was an inconsistent understanding within New South Wales Rural Fire Service state air desk of the threshold required to action task rejection procedures. Consequently, reports of unsafe conditions on the fireground were not promptly actioned.
The NSW RFS confirmed that post‑incident, senior state air desk (SAD) and state operations controllers (SOC) have received explicit training, direction and reinforcement on the identification, recording and management of task rejections. The NSW RFS advised that the training emphasised that a task rejection is not dependent on a pilot or operator using that specific terminology. Any communication from an aircraft indicating an inability to safely complete, continue or return to a task, whether phrased as ‘unsafe conditions’, ‘unable to continue’, ‘not returning’, or any similar expression must be treated and managed as a task rejection.
The ATSB is satisfied that the above training, combined with an updated SAD training package scheduled for release in early 2026, adequately addresses the safety issue.
The NSW RFS advised that, in late 2023, it introduced a formal Task Rejection Procedure to ensure that pilots, AAS, and IMT members could decline or suspend taskings where they identified unacceptable risk or inadequate information.
This initiative reinforced a just culture and supported operational decision-making based on safety and situational awareness, mitigating operational pressure.
All refusals were logged and reviewed through the Aviation Safety Manager to ensure transparency, identify systemic issues, and inform procedural or training improvements.
Since its implementation, more than 45 formal rejections had recorded at the time of writing, demonstrating growing confidence among personnel and operators to exercise their professional judgement.
The process has been integrated into aviation governance training and is subject to quarterly review by the Aviation Safety Governance Committee, ensuring it remains an active safeguard against unsafe tasking.
Additionally, senior state air desk (SAD) and state operations controllers (SOC) have received explicit training, direction and reinforcement on the identification, recording and management of task rejections. This training has consistently emphasised that a task rejection is not dependent on a pilot or operator using that specific terminology. Any communication from an aircraft indicating an inability to safely complete, continue or return to a task whether phrased as ‘unsafe conditions’, ‘unable to continue’, ‘not returning’, or any similar expression must be treated and managed as a task rejection.
This expectation has been formally communicated during each aviation pre-season briefing since November 2023, which included updated aviation dispatch & task rejection procedures and was subsequently re-issued to personnel on 10 November 2023. These procedures were also referenced within the interim arrangements memorandum issued on 20 November 2023. Combined, these materials provided clear guidance that pilots may communicate safety-related decisions in a variety of ways and that SAD personnel and SOC personnel are required to recognise, verify, document, escalate, and act upon any such communication.
Following the Tenterfield incident on 31 October 2023, senior SAD personnel and SOCs also participated in targeted discussions to reinforce these expectations. These discussions focused on:
Task rejection management was further reinforced as part of the RFS state pre-season exercise for the 2025–26 season conducted on 11 September 2025. This exercise included scenario-based activities involving both the SOCs and SAD personnel, requiring personnel to identify implicit task rejections, request clarification from pilots, apply the correct recording and escalation protocols, and adjust operational activity in accordance with the assessed level of risk. This ensured consistency, competency and shared understanding across operational teams.
In addition, the revised state air desk training package, developed during 2025 and scheduled for release in early 2026, formally incorporates instruction on recognising both explicit and non-explicit task rejections. This includes standardised criteria, reference tools, and case-based examples to strengthen operational decision-making and ensure alignment across all SAD staff. Once implemented, this package will serve as the primary competency framework for SAD personnel and will embed the treatment of any safety-related pilot feedback as a potential task rejection.
Taken collectively, these briefings, exercises and training programs demonstrate that the RFS has provided clear, consistent and structured direction to SAD personnel and SOCs regarding task rejection procedures. The organisational expectation is unambiguous; any indication from a pilot or operator that conditions are unsafe, unsuitable, or beyond safe operational limits is to be treated as a task rejection, recorded appropriately, escalated to the relevant supervisory personnel, and used to reassess the safety of ongoing aerial operations.
