Objective of Investigation

26.4 Objective. The objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability.

Investigations

26.5Responsibility for Instigating an Investigation. Where an accident or serious incident occurs in the territory of a contracting state, the State of Occurrence is to instigate the investigation. If the accident or incident occurred in a non-contracting state, the state of registry should endeavour to instigate an investigation. If the accident or incident occurred outside the territory of any state or the location of the occurrence cannot be determined, the State of Registry is to instigate the investigation. If the State of Occurrence declines to investigate the incident, the State of Registry (or the State of the Operator) may investigate.

26.6Participation. The State of Registry, the State of the Operator, the State of Design and the State of Manufacture are entitled to be represented at any investigation. Any state, which when requested provides information, facilities, or experts to the state conducting the investigation, is entitled to be represented at the investigation. Where the citizens of a state have suffered fatalities or serious injuries, that state, if a request has been made, will be permitted to appoint an expert who should be entitled to:

•Visit the scene of the accident

•Have access to the relevant factual information

•Participate in the identification of the victims

•Assist in questioning survivors who are citizens of that state

•Receive a copy of the final report

26.7 Final Report. The final report of an investigation of an accident is to be sent with the minimum delay, by the State conducting the investigation to:

•The state that instigated the investigation

•The state of Registry

•The state of the Operator

•The state of Design

•The state of Manufacture

•Any state whose citizens have suffer fatalities or injuries, and

•Any state which provided relevant information, significant facilities or experts

26.8 ICAO. ICAO is to be notified of any accident or serious incident involving an aircraft with a maximum mass of over 2250 kg. A final report must be sent to ICAO for an aircraft with a maximum mass of more than 5700 kg.

26 Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation

26.10 EU Directive 94/56. This Directive is the EU modification of ICAO Annex 13 with regards to the investigation of accidents.

Objective. The Directive aims to improve air safety by facilitating the expeditious holding of investigations, the sole objective of which is the prevention of future accidents and incidents. It applies to investigations into civil aviation accidents and incidents which have occurred in the territory of the EC or involving aircraft registered in a Member State.

Summary. Member States are obliged to investigate every accident or serious incident with the aim of preventing any reoccurrence thereof. Investigation of incidents, other than serious, is also encouraged. The Directive makes clear distinction between liability and technical investigation. The investigations shall in no case be concerned with apportioning blame or liability.

Each Member State shall ensure that technical investigations are conducted or supervised by a permanent and independent Air Accident Investigation Body.

The investigators-in-charge shall be able to carry out their task in the most efficient way and within the shortest time. They shall be granted free access to:

•the site of the accident and to the aircraft;

•the listing of evidence;

•the flight recorders;

•the results of examination of the bodies of victims or of tests made on samples taken from the bodies of victims.

Report. Any investigation into an accident shall be the subject of a report which shall contain safety recommendations. The investigating body shall make public the final accident report in the shortest possible time, and if possible within 12 months of the date of the accident.

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the safety recommendations made by the investigating bodies or entities are duly taken into consideration and acted upon.

26.11 EU Directive 2003/42. This Directive concerns itself with the reporting of occurrences.

Objective. The objective of this Directive is to contribute to the improvement of air safety by ensuring that relevant information on safety is reported, collected, stored, protected and disseminated. The sole objective of occurrence reporting is the prevention of accidents and incidents and not to attribute blame or liability.

Definition of an occurrence. ‘occurrence’ means an operational interruption, defect, fault or other irregular circumstance that has or may have influenced flight safety and that has not resulted in an accident or serious incident.

Summary

•Member States shall require that occurrences are reported to the competent authorities.

•Member States shall designate one or more competent authorities to put in place a mechanism to collect, evaluate, process and store reported occurrences.

•Member States shall participate in an exchange of information by making all relevant safetyrelated information available to the competent authorities of the other Member States and the Commission.

•The Directive lists in detail examples of the occurrences that must be reported.

26 Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation