Safety concern With the exponential increase in the number of RPAS in Australia, the number of near collisions with manned aircraft has also increased. The growth in the number of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) in Australia is increasing rapidly. This presents an emerging and insufficiently understood transport safety risk. Over half of all occurrences involving an RPAS reported to the ATSB are near encounters with manned aircraft – almost half involve high capacity air transport aircraft. To date, there have been no…

This contact form is intended for use during Major Accident Response scenarios. If you need to contact the ATSB, please visit the contact page.   The ATSB has been advised of .... The ATSB is investigating this accident. Police and emergency services are on site. We understand multiple people are injured. Concerned family and friends need to <operator's> hotline to be kept informed as to the wellbeing of the passengers on board the flight.•    (Within Australia): 1800 XXX XXX•    (International callers) +61 X XXXX XXXX The ATSB has…

All occurrence investigations progress through a series of phases in accordance with the ATSB’s investigation methodology to ensure a rigorous and comprehensive investigation report with evidence-based findings that lead to improvements in transport safety.  Evidence collection   During the evidence collection phase, investigators build a detailed picture of the occurrence or other transport safety matter being investigated. Evidence gathered may include:  site observations and mapping,…

Safety concern It is difficult for pilots to identify other aircraft through visual observation alone. The ATSB often receives reports from pilots that another aircraft is flying too close to them in uncontrolled airspace. Not surprisingly, three quarters of these reports involve pilots flying within 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometres) of a non-controlled aerodrome. In nearly three quarters of all near-collisions reported to the ATSB, at least one pilot had no prior warning of the…

Safety concern The ATSB has investigated a number of incidents and accidents where fatigue was identified as having a causal effect. Human fatigue is a physical and psychological condition primarily caused by prolonged wakefulness and/or insufficient or disturbed sleep. Everyone has experienced fatigue at some point, but in the transport industry, where there’s often high pressure to deliver, fatigue can have very real, very dangerous implications. Fatigue can have a range of adverse influences on human performance, such as slowed reaction time, decreased work efficiency, reduced…

Penalties Section 26 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) imposes a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment for a person who discloses the contents of a draft report to any other person or to a court. The maximum penalty for unauthorised copying of the whole or any part of a draft report is $3,600. The reason for the penalties for unauthorised copying and disclosure of a draft report is that it may contain information that is subject to change as a result of…

Fatal accident prompts safety recommendations for skydiving operations A multi-fatal accident involving a Cessna U206G aircraft has resulted in the ATSB issuing recommendations to improve the safety of skydiving operations in Australia. The 22 March 2014 accident occurred when the aircraft was conducting tandem parachuting operations at Caboolture in Queensland. On board were the pilot, two parachuting instructors and two tandem parachutists. Shortly after take-off, the aircraft climbed to about 200 feet before aerodynamically stalling and colliding with the ground. Tragically, all five died…

These operational reports have been developed to provide regular updates on the progress of the search effort for MH370. Most recent at top

Subsection 49(3) notice for the voice component of the voyage data recording recovered by ATSB after Shen Neng 1’s grounding at Douglas Shoal on 3 April 2010 The ATSB has issued a notice under s.49(3) of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) declaring the voice component of the voyage data recording not to be an on-board recording (OBR) for the purposes of Division 1, Part 6 of the TSI Act. Pursuant to section 49 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003, I declare that the whole of the identified recording (recovered by the ATSB on 9 April 2010) is not to be treated as…

Accidents and serious incidents (commonly called Reportablematter7" title="What is an Immediatly Reportable or Routinely Reportable matter"> Immediately Reportable Matters), which affect the safety of aircraft must, in the first instance, be notified to the ATSB by telephone (24 hours) 1800…