Commercial ballooning operations was added to SafetyWatch after the ATSB identified a trend toward a heightened exposure to risk in the sector, as compared to other forms of charter aviation. Occurrence data collected from industry by the ATSB has identified an accident rate and serious incident rate in balloon operations around 10 times that of charter operations in aeroplanes and helicopters, on a per flight basis. Risk is further heightened as the average…

A significant number of ATSB investigations involving helicopters and small aeroplanes have identified safety factors associated with accident survivability. Such a finding indicates a fatal or serious injury would probably have been avoided, or the risk of such an injury would have been decreased, if the availability of safety equipment or compliance with relevant procedures or good practice was followed.  Survivability concepts addressed in ATSB investigations include: Helicopter underwater escape training (HUET) and currency Survivability…

Australia is a vast and sparsely-populated continent, with a highly active general aviation sector, and a healthy charter and scheduled passenger air transport sector servicing regional centres.  These factors are among those which contribute to Australia having more than 330 certified aerodromes (as defined by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority), and more than 2,000 defined aircraft landing areas (or ALAs). The vast majority of these are non-towered, with no separation or traffic guidance provided by a ground-based controller, as you would have in…