IATA releases Q1 aircraft incidents report

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released preliminary first quarter 2015 commercial aviation safety performance data that shows an overall fall in the rate of accidents on a five-year basis.

The rate of aircraft accidents remains low despite high-profile disasters in the past 12 months.
The rate of aircraft accidents remains low despite high-profile disasters in the past 12 months.
The preliminary global jet accident rate (measured in hull losses per 1 million flights) was 0.38, which was the equivalent of one accident for every 2.6 million flights. This was an improvement over the five-year rate (2010-2014) when the global hull loss rate stood at 0.45 but above the full year 2014 rate of 0.23, which was the lowest in aviation history.

The first quarter 2015 preliminary turboprop hull loss rate was 1.58, which was an improvement on the five year rate of 2.92 and the 2014 annual rate of 2.32. The first quarter all accident rate (jets and turboprops) for airlines on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registry was 2.11, which was nearly twice as good as the rate for non-IOSA airlines (4.10).

There were 6 hull loss accidents (3 jets, 3 turboprops) among 9.8 million flights (7.9 million jets and 1.9 million turboprops).

“Flying is safe. The industry has become so reliable in its safety record that relatively small variations in performance from year to year can skew the numbers. The safety performance over one quarter is insufficient to come to any conclusions. However, as the data fits within the five-year trend of improvement it reassures us that the industry strategy is driving us in the right direction,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

Underlying IATA’s foundational approach to safety is the Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) programme, a comprehensive safety data warehouse. GADM includes analysis reports covering accidents, incidents, ground damage, maintenance, and audits, plus data from nearly 2 million flights and over 1 million air safety reports. More than 470 organisations, including more than 90% of IATA member airlines, are participating in at least one GADM database.

“While we must always try to be ready for the unexpected, future safety gains will come increasingly from analysing data from all flights, not just the infinitesimal percentage of flights where something goes wrong. GADM will guide us to apply our resources where they can have the biggest impact on safety.” said Tyler.

sourced:traveldailymedia.com