ATSB investigations for RAA accidents

[pmccarthy]

This subject keeps coming up in threads about accidents. The ATSB say that they are not funded to investigate RAA accidents or even all accidents (fatal or otherwise) and that they will choose which accidents might yield new insights to improve safety. I think this approach misses a vital point. The investigations should not be carried out to better inform ATSB about the causes of accidents. They should be carried out to inform pilots. 

 

I accept that the rules are "written in blood" and that conceivably every possible cause has already been investigated and reported. So, all causes are recorded in the bowels of ATSB, in past investigation reports and articles in crash comics. But that doesn't put them in the minds of pilots. 

 

We are all interested in recent accidents and keenly await investigation reports. The learnings from them may be old ones but they become new again when they are recent or involve people we know, or people known to our own acquaintances. The old stories need constant refreshment, and this is best done by investigating and reporting as many causes as possible as soon as possible after each incident. These stories will stick in our minds and influence the way we fly.

 

It doesn't matter how many "stall spin" accidents are in the files, students and new pilots will not read them or will consider them to be old, irrelevant stories. It is the one that is in the news, or happened on the next airfield, that will change our behaviour for life.