Safety in the vicinity of non-towered aerodromes - Australian ...

Figure 1: Airspace-use and operational-related occurrences in the vicinity of
non-towered aerodromes in Australia, 2003 to 2008
There was a significant increase in occurrences in 2008 (as shown in Figure 1).
Further investigation of the data revealed that as a proportion of total occurrences in
2008 compared to earlier years, there were no significant changes in the most
common five occurrence types, the location of occurrences, or the involvement of
RPT aircraft in occurrences. The reason for this spike could not be determined, but it
is at least partially due to an increase in reporting levels of airspace-related and
operational-related incidents by pilots.
It is also interesting to note that the introduction of the National Airspace System
(NAS 2C) non-towered aerodrome procedures in November 2005 did not affect the
number of occurrences reported to the ATSB. Any effects of the introduction of NAS
2C would expect to have been seen within 18 months of November 2005; however,
there was no significant change in the number of occurrences reported.
3.1 Accidents, incidents, and serious incidents near nontowered
aerodromes
Almost all of the occurrences during the reporting period were incidents. No injuries
were reported in any of the occurrences classified as incidents. However, a proportion
of these incidents were serious in nature (n=60) and were classified as serious
incidents. Serious incidents are incidents where circumstances indicated that an
accident nearly occurred.
There were six accidents related to airspace use and separation in the vicinity of nontowered
aerodromes. Four of these accidents were mid-air collisions – two involved
collisions between agricultural aircraft or gliders conducting manoeuvring near the
aerodrome (crop spraying, soaring etc.) The remaining two mid-air collisions
occurred between general aviation (GA) aircraft on approach or operating in the
circuit.
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