The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has denied recent media reports about aviation safety in, claiming that air travel remains one of the safest forms of travel.

 

The response follows media reports that Australian air travellers are involved in "dozens of dangerous close calls reported by flight crews and air traffic controllers each week".

 

The ATSB says that Australia's extensive mandatory reporting scheme sees a broad range of occurrences (incidents and accidents) reported to the ATSB. These include reports from all sectors of the aviation sector, ranging from sport and recreational flying in ultra-lights and gyrocopters, to private flying and other general aviation operations, through to commercial passenger operations.

 

“The vast majority of aviation safety occurrences reported to the ATSB are minor in nature. Far from 'escaping investigation', these occurrences are assessed as not requiring investigation as they are unlikely to reveal significant systemic safety issues. But it is important that the ATSB is notified of all occurrences as the data helps us to analyse trends, find patterns in transport safety and alert the relevant people to any ongoing problem or risk.

 

“Importantly, the ATSB has not identified any change in occurrence trends that would suggest overall increasing risk or any systemic safety issues. Given the high level of flying activity on any given day, occurrences are inevitable. These can include mechanical problems, human error or environmental issues such as severe weather or birds and wildlife.

 

“Aviation systems are designed on the expectation that such issues will occur, and back-up systems or defences exist to minimise the associated risk.

 

“The ATSB investigates to better understand why occurrences happen and to reduce the risk of them happening again. In combination with the work of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Airservices Australia, airlines, operators, and individual aviation professionals and practitioners, this contributes to the high standard of aviation safety that exists in Australia.”