How does Australias aviation safety record compare with that of other Western countries? To answer this, fatal accident and fatality rates for Australia were compared with similar rates for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, between 1995 and 2004 (the latest year for which comparable data was available). The ATSB aviation accident and incident database was searched to identify all fatal accidents involving Australian civil registered aircraft during this period. The dataset was then matched with comparable datasets for the overseas countries, taking into…

Technical Analysis Report " Short Bros. SD360-300, VH-SUM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On 13 August 2000, a Shorts SD-360 aircraft (VH-SUM) sustained an in-flight shutdown of the right engine, which was later attributed to the seizure of the gas generator and power sections of the turbine. Further examination of the engine by the ATSB and Pratt & Whitney Canada showed the seizure to have stemmed from the distress and severe overheating of the engine number one bearing in the compressor section. Despite the degree of damage to the bearing races, evidence of electrical arcing damage was found on the…

Transport accidents are a leading cause of injury, both fatal and non-fatal. The primary purpose of this publication is to provide a broad overview of serious injury due to land transport accidents in Australia in the one-year period 200304, the latest year for which data are available. The main focus is on accidents involving road vehicles travelling on public roads (called travelling in traffic). Road vehicles include motor vehicles, pedal cycles and other road vehicles such as trams, animals or animal-drawn vehicles (when they travel on the road). Serious injuryis defined for this report…

Transport accidents are a leading cause of injury, both fatal and non-fatal. The primary purpose of this publication is to provide a broad overview of serious injury due to transport accidents in Australia in the one-year period 2003-04, the latest year for which data are available. Serious injury is defined for this report as an injury which results in the person being admitted to hospital, and subsequently discharged alive either on the same day or after one or more nights stay in a hospital bed (i.e. deaths are excluded). This report presents estimates of the numbers of persons seriously…

Producing the annual review is in line with a recommendation of the McGrath report into the former Bureau of Air Safety Investigation released in August 1999 to improve the transparency and accountability of the Bureau. Creation of the ATSB on 1 July 1999 brought together the safety investigation, statistical analysis, research and safety program management of the Commonwealth's transport safety role in one multi-modal agency within the Department of Transport and Regional Services. ATSB intends to prepare an annual review to provide all stakeholders with an overview of its activities and…

Area navigation global navigation satellite system (RNAV (GNSS)) approaches have been used in Australia since 1998 and have now become a common non-precision approach. Since their inception, however, there has been minimal research of pilot performance during normal operations outside of the high capacity airline environment. Three thousand five hundred Australian pilots with an RNAV (GNSS) endorsement were mailed a questionnaire asking them to rate their perceived workload, situational awareness, chart interpretability, and safety on a number of different approach types. Further questions…

Executive Director's message The 2005-06 financial year continued to have a substantial building element for the ATSB as rail investigation further matured and aviation investigators were trained and prepared for 2006-07 implementation of a new aviation safety database with associated project and risk management. The Bureau is continuing its commitment to training its investigators through the Diploma of Transport Safety Investigation. In 2005-06, ten staff completed the Transport Safety Investigation (TSI) Diploma and a further 25 were progressing through the coursework and mentoring. In…

This report was tabled in the Australian Parliament on 23 November 1999 Class G airspace (or uncontrolled airspace) has the lowest level of service and the fewest restrictions on aircraft operations. In Australian Class G airspace, third-party directed traffic information is provided to pilots of aircraft operating under the instrument flight rules. There have been a number of attempts to change the operation of Class G airspace since its introduction in 1995. As part of the Airspace 2000 program, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) decided to conduct a 'Class G demonstration'…

Reciprocating-engine powered low-capacity transport aircraft (8 to 10 passengers) provide an important public transport connection throughout regional Australia. In the period January 2000 to December 2005, twenty powertrain structural failures of high-power (300 to 375 brake horsepower) horizontally-opposed, reciprocating engines were associated with air safety occurrences reported to the ATSB. These occurrences ranged in severity from; in-flight engine shutdown; engine failure and forced landing; engine failure combined with in-flight fire and fracture of both upper engine mounts; to the…

The purpose of this publication is to provide a national overview of serious non-fatal injury in Australia due to transport accidents involving a railway train in the period 1999-00 to 2003-04, including level crossing accidents. The definition of transport injury used in this report excludes injuries given an external cause of intentional self harm, assault or undetermined intent (terms that are defined in the report). This report includes all injuries that were serious enough to require hospitalisation but did not result in death. Publication available from the Australian Institute of…