John Brandon

Two things surprised me about the job description on the RA-Aus website. Firstly nothing relating to the safety of the membership is apparent in the job description. The first of the key responsibilities states: - To develop and implement national training strategies to ensure the continued growth and success of the business. According to RA-Aus policy "Safety is one of our core business values and functions". I believe safety of the membership is more important than 'the continued growth and success of the business', so that key responsibility ought to read something like: - To develop and implement national training strategies to ensure the safety of the membership and the continued growth and success of the business. Secondly the enticement at the beginning of the job description to "Work for an organisation experiencing high growth" seems to be deliberately misleading - to any reader. RA-Aus growth commenced to slacken in 2010 and the number of aircraft registered (3200-3400), members (around 10 000) and FTFs (around 175) has been stagnant for the past 3.5 years. The only high growth area seems to be costs. John

It wasn't on the 2015 list of RA-Aus accidents confirmed by Katie Jenkins but I'll run it past her again to confirm that the pilot was not an RA-Aus member and the aircraft was not registered with RA-Aus. If that is so and it is not an HGFA aeroplane then I guess I'll have to dig a bit deeper. John

Sorry about that, some extraneous text got mixed in. I may not be able to correct it as I can't see how to edit an established post. John

The Super Petrel accident was June 2011 and LightWing Speed was September 2011, doesn't seem like four years ago, does it? John

Perhaps it should be mentioned that 'draft report' refers to an ATSB draft report and not to any RA-Aus accident investigation report. RA-Aus is not a certified agent of the ATSB. John

I don't have a lot of faith in the utility of statistics, which is why the opening section in http://www.recreationalflying.com/tutorials/safety/intro2.html is titled 'Lies, damned lies and statistics', a remark which was first published by some thinking person more than a century ago. Statistics do not reflect the reality of a fatal accident; i.e. the heart-broken person who has lost their life partner, the stunned child/grandchild whose parent/grandparent suddenly no longer exists in their life, the family adjustment to straitened circumstances and so on, for many years. However, to answer your question. Prior to about 2002 the number of hours flown in Sport Aviation were reported to the Aviation Statistics and Analysis Section of the Department of Transport and Regional Services by the AUF, GFA, HGFA, SAAA and ASRA. DTRS collated the raw data and published the results. I had a contact there who was unusually obliging and supplied me with tabular data pre-tagged with HTML. FYI I have placed this material on this website at http://www.recreationalflying.com/tutorials/safety/old_statistics.html. You can see that the data is quite extensive. Of course in those days there was not much pressure at all levels for tolerably accurate reporting of flight hours by aircraft owners, so they are probably incomplete. The BITRE took over the aviation statistics function in 2002 and their hours data is available on their website, within their annual General Aviation Activity report. The report for 2012 (http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/general_aviation_activity.aspx) was released earlier this year (they are always very slow in getting them out) and the RA-Aus activity is in section L Tables 34, 35 and 36 - starting at around page 52. Those statistics are supplied to BITRE annually or perhaps semi-annually by RA-Aus for aircraft type, CAO classification and State. However a problem seems to have arisen in that the 195.2k hours reported by BITRE for 2012 does not agree with the office figures. Michael Linke informed me that the annual hours figure for 2012 is only 140k (which I have used in place of the BITRE figure) but there is no obvious reason how such an extreme variance could occur. The BITRE figures do not include the HGFA trikes. Michael also supplied the 150k hours I used for 2013 and 192k hours used for 2014. In regard to the accident statistics, there is no accessible data on any website except for those statistics published by the ATSB; however these are so incomplete they are of limited value and the same applies to extracting data from their occurrence database. The number of accidents for the 1985-2000 years was provided to me, probably about 15 years ago, by Rod Hewitt-Cooke. As you may recall Rod was an enthusiastic archiver of historical data and an enthusiastic desktop computer user so he had quite a bit of material stored digitally. I also had access to the accident investigators' reports, many of which I published on the AUF/RA-Aus website. During the 11 year period I was looking after the website the office staff provided me with the fatal accident data as a matter of course. Since then I have been keeping my own record but the recent statistics published have been confirmed by Katie Jenkins. cheers John

Comparison of the RA-Aus accident rate and the total annual flight hours The bar and line chart is derived from the annual number of RA-Aus fatal accidents and the total annual aircraft flight hours (reported by aircraft owners at the time annual registration is renewed) to provide the number of fatal accidents per 100 000 flight hours. RA-Aus staff, of course, presume that the annual aircraft flying hours reported by the owners is reasonably accurate. The bars* indicate the number of fatal accidents divided by the number of 100 000 flight hour blocks flown that year and the line indicates a four-year running average of the annual rates. * For example, if there were four accidents in a year when 75 000 flight hours were recorded the calculation is 4/0.75=5.3 accidents per 100k flight hours. The pattern is interesting. The fatal accident rate per 100k flight hours peaked in 2002* and in the 4-year period 2000-2003, when we were averaging nearly 80 000 flight hours per year, the fatal accident rate was about 7.2 per 100k hours, which was nearly as bad as the toll in the early 1980s (which prompted the investigation by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport Safety). During the 2004-2007 period flight hours averaged about 110 000 hours annually and the rate reduced to 5.1 per 100k hours. Then in 2008-2011, when flight hours increased to around 155 000 per annum, there was a big improvement to 2.4 accidents per 100k hours. RA-Aus report 482 000 flight hours accumulated during 2012, 2013, 2014 and I have guessed 100 000 hours for the first 6 months of 2015 so with the 27 fatal accidents recorded for that period, then the rate has jumped up again to 4.7 fatals per 100k flight hours, so we seem to be reverting towards where we were in 2004-2007. A poor result, particularly considering all the work that has been done. *Note: in 2002 the CAO 95.10, 95.25, 101.28 and 101.55 aircraft accounted for about 75% of hours flown, but by 2012 those aircraft represented less than 10% of flight hours. From www.recreationalflying.com.au/tutorials/safety/intro2.html

A person contacted me a few days ago in regard to the '29 deaths in 29 months' statement in the Recreational Flying forum plus the 'Recent RA-Aus fatal accident history' web page in the Recreational Flying tutorials. He thought that my seeming concentration on RA-Aus fatalities was neglectful of the HGFA fatalities and that, as my tutorials are no longer part of the RA-Aus website and are now part of a non-aligned recreational aviation website, then there is every reason to have a broader approach to recreational aviation accidents. I guess he is quite right and I intend to start modifications to include all fatal accidents relating to powered aircraft that were operating under the exemptions provided by CAOs 95.8, 95.10, 95.32 and 95.55; thus excluding only the non-powered hang gliders operating under CAO 95.8 and the rotorcraft. I have included accidents where the pilot was operating outside an RAAO but should have been operating under the CAOs; i.e. the persons who have never bothered to join RA-Aus/HGFA or who have allowed membership/ registration etc to lapse. Katie Jenkins has informed me that the RA-Aus operations staff have prepared an accident history document for publication in the July Sport Pilot which should be interesting. Total fatalities in the 30 months January 2013 to June 2015 inclusive is 35 persons - 30 PICs, one pilot examiner and 4 passengers. There were 3 non-recreational accidents included, i.e. stock and station air work operations; 28 of the fatalities were associated with RA-Aus, 6 with HGFA and 1 non-associated. However I may not have picked up all the relevant HGFA or non-associated accidents and I would like to be informed of those missed. Katie Jenkins has checked the RA-Aus statistics so they should be OK. Powered 3-axis and WS recreational aviation fatalities during the 30 months 1/1/2013 to 30/6/2015 2012 (included for reference the numbers are not included in totals) 1 March 19, 2012 - CZAW Sportcruiser (PiperSport), collision with terrain near Bundaberg Qld. The PIC instructor and student pilot suffered fatal injuries. ATSB 201202356 2. April 7, 2012 - Airborne XT912 , Temora Natfly to Cootamundra, collision with terrain near Cootamundra NSW near last light. The pilot and passenger suffered fatal injuries. 3. June 8, 2012 - Airborne XT912, collision with terrain near Temora NSW. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. Total 2012 fatalities: 3 PICs plus 1 student pilot and 1 passenger = 5 fatalities. All RA-Aus no HGFA recorded. Includes 2 trikes. 2013 1. January 11, 2013 - Australian LightWing GR912 , collision with terrain near Beaconsfield Tas. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. 2. February 3, 2013 - Skyfox CA25N Gazelle, collision with terrain in Glasshouse Mountains area Qld. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. 3. February 7, 2013 - Alpi Pioneer, collision with power lines near Ouyen Vic. The pilot and passenger suffered fatal injuries. ATSB201301151 4. February 8, 2013 - Murphy Maverick/Rebel, collision with terrain Texas, NSW. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. ATSB201301147 5. March 6, 2013 - Airborne XT912, collision with water Warnervale, Tuggerah Lakes NSW. The pilot and passenger suffered fatal injuries. ATSB201302118 6. March 12, 2013 - Tecnam P92, collision with terrain (cattle mustering) at Kihee Station, Eromanga south-west Qld. The pilot was pulled from the burning wreckage but he later succumbed to his injuries 7. March 24, 2013 - Vans RV12 19-8121, crashed at Lismore, NSW. Control loss during first test flight of home-built. The testing pilot suffered fatal injuries. ATSB201302805 8. April 13, 2013 - powered paraglider Bribie Island, Qld. HGFA may be CAO 95.8 or 95.10 aircraft. HGFA. 9. 2nd qtr, 2013 - powered paraglider Atkinson's dam near Ipswich, Qld. HGFA may be CAO 95.8 or 95.10 aircraft. HGFA. 10 April 23, 2013 - Super Diamond (modified kit-built), collision with terrain, Mitchells Island near Taree, NSW. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. 11. June 16, 2013 - Colyaer Martin 3, collision with terrain near Dongarra, WA, fire. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. 12. October 6, 2013 - Storm 300, collision with terrain (attempted go-around, clipped trees) near Bundaberg, Qld. The pilot succumbed to injuries October 14. 13. October 27, 2013 - Airborne XT912, collision with terrain, Girraween NT. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. Coroner's Court Darwin findings D0188/2013 delivered 30/12/14. HGFA or perhaps non-associated. 14. November 18, 2013 - ICP Savannah VG XL, collision with terrain (while checking stock?) Mungerannie Station, SA. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. Total 2013 fatalities: 14 PICs plus 2 passengers. (16 deaths; 11 RA-Aus pilots, 3 HGFA pilots and 2 RA-Aus passengers) Includes 2 PPG, 2 trikes and 2 stock and station operation accidents. 2014 1. April 27, 2014 - Airborne XT912, collision with terrain (house) Tyabb, Vic. The pilot suffered fatal injuries and a small child passenger was severely injured. 2. May 16, 2014 - Aeropro EuroFox 3K, collision with terrain while mustering stock at Manfred Station 50 km south of Ivanhoe, NSW. The pilot later died of injuries. 3. June 26, 2014 - Tecnam P96 Golf, collision with terrain possibly following outer wing separation and loss of control, Krondorf area near Tanunda, SA. The pilot and passenger both suffered fatal injuries. Flight planned Lyndoch to Mildura, aircraft crashed at 8:10am. 4. July 6, 2014 - Morgan Aero Works Sierra 100 home-built, Mossy Pt (Moruya) NSW, collision with water following loss of control while a biennial flight review was being conducted in the reviewee's aircraft. Both the examiner and the pilot under review were fatally injured. The cause was believed to be control surface separation due to aerodynamic flutter occasioned by inadequate maintenance of the flight control linkage system. 5. October 6, 2014 - Drifter (Fisher Mk1), collision with terrain private strip at Knockrow, NSW, trapping the pilot. The pilot suffered critical injuries and passed away a week later without regaining consciousness. 6. October 8, 2014 - ICP Savannah VG XL, collision with terrain Wooderson, near Calliope, central Qld. The pilot suffered fatal injuries. Total 2014 fatalities: 6 RA-Aus PICs and 1 pilot examiner plus 1 passenger = 8 and one child severely injured. All RA-Aus no HGFA recorded. Includes 1 trike, 1 stock and station operation accident. 2015 1. January 27. 2015 - Karaone home-built, collision with terrain near Bulli Tops, Illawarra district, NSW. The pilot planned to fly from Wedderburn airport to Albion Park Airport with another ultralight aircraft. The two aircraft encountered non-VFR meteorological conditions over difficult terrain at a time approaching evening civil twilight. (Shown as a 'Pilatus' in the RA-Aus accident and incidence summaries and appears as such in the ATSB occurrence data base.) 2. February 10, 2015 - a Drifter 582 and a single seat Thruster 503 departed Donnington Airpark Qld for a local in-company flight but failed to return. The wreckage of both aircraft and the bodies of the pilots was found in close proximity at Woodstock 7 km south of Donnington Airpark. RA-Aus investigation concluded that the two aircraft collided midair. 3. April 10, 2015 - an HGFA trike struck a powerline on take-off from a private airstrip at Walshpool near Jamestown SA. Pilot sole occupant. 4. April 11, 2015 - the pilot and passenger died in an HGFA trike powerline on take-off from a private airstrip at Dundee near Glen Innes NSW. 5. April 18, 2015 - a kit-built Jabiru 250 fitted with an 8 cylinder Jabiru 5500 engine, pilot sole occupant, crashed on a ridge near Woolooga Qld while on a morning flight from Gympie to Dixalea. 6. May 9, 2015 - Lightwing Speed 2000, North Stradbroke Island, pilot sole occupant. 7. May 23, 2015 - home-built (first flight?), Lovedale near Cessnock airfield, pilot sole occupant. 8. May 30, 2015 - Fasterway PPC, pilot sole occupant, crashed shortly after take-off Theodore south west of Gladstone. RA-Aus registration number had been allocated for building but membership and registration not current so pilot was not associated with an RAAO and thus operating outside CAO 95.32. RA-Aus assisted police in the investigation. 9. June 23, 2015 - an RA-Aus trike, pilot sole occupant, crashed on take-off from a Tyagarah airstrip near Byron Bay NSW. 2015 fatalities: 10 PICs, 1 passenger and 10 aircraft in first 6 months. (11 deaths; 7 RA-Aus pilots, 2 HGFA pilots, 1 unassociated pilot and 1 HGFA passenger) Includes 3 trikes and 1 PPC accident. John Brandon

I don't have access to the accident investigators reports and other data so I'm unable to go into it more deeply. However I'm sure the operations and safety staff in Canberra will be conducting an extensive examination of all data available and working towards implementing a realistic safety dissemination program without the creation of new regulations. Also, my ophthalmologist has informed me that chronic glaucoma has reached the point that I am now legally blind and extended periods of reading are no longer possible. I prefer to devote the bulk of my available reading time to other interests so aviation related activities are being moved to the back burner. John

In regard to the belief that RA-Aus trikes make up an unduly high proportion of the 29 month fatalities, I have listed below all the RA-Aus accidents that I am aware of: 2013 1. January 11 - Australian LightWing GR912 near Beaconsfield Tas. 2. February 3 - Skyfox CA25N Gazelle Glasshouse Mountains Qld. 3. February 6 - Alpi Pioneer collision with power lines near Ouyen Vic. 4. February 8 - Murphy Maverick Texas, NSW. 5. March 5 - Airborne XT912 collision with water Tuggerah Lakes NSW. 6. March 12 - Tecnam P92 collision with terrain (air work) at Kihee Station, Eromanga south-west Qld. 7. March 24 - Vans RV12 Lismore, NSW. Control loss during first test flight. 8. April 22 - Super Diamond kit-built collision with terrain, Mitchells Island, NSW. 9. June 16 - Colyaer Martin 3 collision with terrain near Dongarra, WA. . 10. October 5 - Storm 300 collision with terrain near Bundaberg, Qld. 11. October 27 - Airborne XT912 collision with terrain, Girraween, NT. 12. November 18 - ICP Savannah VG XL collision with terrain (air work) Mungerannie Station, SA. Total 2013 fatalities: 12 pilots plus 2 passengers = 14 persons. Ten 3-axis aircraft (including 2 air work accidents) and 2 trikes destroyed. 2014 1. April 27 - Airborne XT912 collision with terrain (house) Tyabb, Vic. 2. May 16 - Aeropro EuroFox 3K collision with terrain (air work) at Manfred Station south of Ivanhoe, NSW. 3. June 26 - Tecnam P96 Golf collision with terrain following outer wing separation and loss of control, Krondorf area near Tanunda, SA. 4. July 6 - Morgan Aero Works Sierra 100 home-built Mossy Pt (Moruya) NSW, collision with water following loss of control while a BFR was being conducted 5. October 6 - Drifter (Fisher Mk1) collision with terrain private strip at Knockrow, NSW. 6. October 8 - ICP Savannah VG XL collision with terrain Wooderson, near Calliope, Qld. Total 2014 fatalities: 6 pilots plus 1 passenger and 1 pilot examiner = 8 persons. Five 3-axis aircraft (including 1 air work accident) and 1 trike destroyed. 2015 1. January 27 - Karaone home-built collision with terrain near Bulli Tops, Illawarra district, NSW. 2. February 10 - a Drifter 582 and a single seat Thruster 503 departed Donnington Airpark Qld for a local in-company flight but failed to return. The wreckage of both aircraft found in close proximity 7 km south of Donnington Airpark. 3. April 18 - a kit-built Jabiru 250 crashed near Woolooga Qld. 4. May 9 - Lightwing Speed 2000 North Stradbroke Island. 5. May 23 - 3-axis home-built (first flight?) near Cessnock airfield 6. May 30 - Fasterway PPC crashed shortly after take-off at Theodore south west of Gladstone Total fatalities Jan to May 2015: 7 pilots no passengers. Six 3-axis aircraft plus one PPC destroyed. The total fatalities over the 29 months: 25 pilots plus 1 pilot examiner and 3 passengers = 29 persons. Twenty-one 3-axis aircraft, including 3 air work accidents, plus 3 trikes and one PPC were destroyed/written-off. You will note that only 3 trikes were involved, comprising 12% of the total accidents and trikes comprise around 12% of the RA-Aus register. More worrying, I think, is the three 3-axis aircraft that crashed while conducting stock and station work. Also the RA-Aus management's opinion is that the October 27, 2013 trike fatality I have included properly belongs to HGFA but the coroner's findings persuade me that, morally perhaps not legally, it should be included in the RA-Aus figures. If the RA-Aus management opinion is accepted then the remaining 2 RA-Aus trikes represent just 8% of the RA-Aus fatals during the 29 months. HGFA have had some accidents, most recent being April 11 when two persons were fatally injured near Glen Innes. John Brandon

Yes, it is interesting that since the beginning of 2011 two student pilot certificate holders have died in fatal accidents, but in both cases they were not PIC, they were accompanied by an instructor. It would be most interesting to read the accident investigators' conclusions. I don't recall any significant student pilot appearance in the statistics for the prior 2006-2010 period. JB

The graphs are not out of date, they reflect the actual statistics for the 1985-2011 period. However the chart information is quite bare so rather than extending the preceding charts for the more recent years you might have noticed that I have provided descriptive text for each year, starting with 2007. Actually RA-Aus doubled in size between January 2004 and January 2012 when total voting membership peaked at 10 008 and subsequently experienced a net reduction during 2012-2014. The RA-Aus aircraft register also peaked in early 2012 at 3414 and has reduced to around 3300 in early 2015. When reading membership statistics published in the monthly journal readers should bear in mind that many (most?) board members have always been quite careless with the membership totals and tended to exaggerate the membership figures. One recently stated that we had 13 000 members when in fact the number of members with voting rights was less than 10 000. Others have used the count of the number of magazines distributed each month thus including members of the public who had taken out a magazine subscription plus persons on the free list. The count of members should be restricted to those who have voting rights under the constitution, which would even exclude 'life members'. JB

In the 29 months from January 2013 to May 2015 inclusive, the fatalities within the RA-Aus sector of sport and recreational aviation have reached the very disturbing total of 29 persons i.e. one death per month. The answer to the question — "Does it look like recreational aviators are now getting safer and that there is less chance of fatal accidents?" — is that they are most certainly not getting safer, despite the 2008 introduction of human factors training and the more recent managerial measures — and despite some recent board member statements. Assuredly, we are not improving; perhaps the adage 'The more things change, the more they stay the same' is appropriate? Read the June 4 update of the document 'Recent RA-Aus fatal accident history' at http://www.recreationalflying.com/tutorials/safety/intro2.html John Brandon RA-Aus life member

All recreational aircraft accidents/incidents are, or should be, reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Section 12AB of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 states: 'the ATSB is not subject to direction from anyone in relation to the performance of its functions or the exercise of its powers'. Thus a coroner cannot control the release of information by the ATSB. Unfortunately ATSB is not a large organisation, perhaps around 100 personnel (it was required to reduce its numbers by about 10% in 2014) and is also responsible for rail and marine safety investigations so it lacks the resources to investigate recreational aircraft accidents, fatal or otherwise, and will not do so unless it considers the safety of the general public may have been threatened. ATSB does provide valuable laboratory assistance to RA-Aus investigations in the fields of metallurgical testing, extract of data from avionics etc. So ATSB perceives RA-Aus as the organisation responsible for investigating RA-Aus fatal accidents, which results in a negative impact on the dissemination of information to the RA-Aus membership because coroners, in turn, only regard the RA-Aus investigators as part of the police investigation team assisting coroners and thus subject to coronial control in respect to dissemination of their fatal accident investigation reports, rather than properly regarding them as persons trained and appointed by RA-Aus management to do the crash investigation on behalf of the RA-Aus membership. A fatality in a recreational aircraft accident is reported to a coroner by the police as an 'initial report' and the police subsequently maintain charge of the aircraft wreckage until all coronial procedures are concluded. The coroner may be a full-time coroner or a magistrate coroner who will investigate (with the further aid of police and other investigators) the circumstances surrounding the death. The law requires the coroner to establish the identity of the deceased; the medical cause of death (e.g. fatal injuries sustained in an aviation accident); when and where the death occurred and the circumstances surrounding the death i.e. what caused, or contributed to, the aircraft accident. After concluding an initial investigation a coroner may issue his or her findings without holding an inquest ('Findings without inquest') but an inquest may be held if the coroner believes it is in the public interest to do so and/or a 'senior' relative of the deceased requests it. The coroner maintains contact with the family during the coronial process. An inquest is a public enquiry by a coroner's court into the cause of a death where various persons associated with the event, or persons thought able to provide 'expert' input, are required to attend and be questioned as witnesses. The coroner's findings, whether 'Findings of inquest' or 'Findings without inquest', may include recommendations to authorities in regard to systems, procedures and regulations with the intention of reducing the likelihood of similar accidents in the future. However a coronial investigation is a long (sometimes incredibly long) but worthwhile, legal process. For example, the coroner's findings from the inquest into the death of research scientist Doctor Barry Uscinski provide informative, perhaps disturbing, reading; but the time elapsed between the accident and release of these findings was 50 months. The police investigator's report concluded that the accident was due to pilot error however the coroner had doubts and the family requested an inquest. The Findings of Inquest, determining that the accident was not due to pilot error, can be read at http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/337622/cif-uscinski-20141229.pdf. The RA-Aus investigator's opinions seemed to form the basis of the coronial findings. Surprisingly 'Findings without inquest' might also take a similar period to be published; for example, see the http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/296435/cif-sweetnam-g-mitchell-a-20141015.pdf non-inquest findings for the Zenith Zodiac CH601 crash off Surfers Paradise in March 2008. Although this aircraft was VH registered the ATSB passed it on to RA-Aus thus confirming ATSB's good regard for RA-Aus investigative capabilities. RA-Aus was asked to assist the police investigation and it seems the coroner based his findings on the RA-Aus conclusions. The findings were published in October 2014 (6 years and 7 months after the accident) although in January 2009, RA-Aus issued an airworthiness notice AN070109-1 titled 'Compulsory fitment of a secondary canopy locking device, on Zodiac/Zenair/Zenith aircraft canopy'. This AN just states 'Several reports have been received indicating that the canopy fitted to Zodiac/Zenair /Zenith aircraft are opening in flight causing air turbulence around the tailplane and elevators' and does not mention that the death of two persons 10 months earlier was most likely caused by canopy detachment. Choosing this soft approach rather than making a statement providing more impact on RA-Aus members was probably done to avoid pre-empting the coroner's findings however a bit of judicious wording could have informed the membership of the likelihood of canopy detachment being involved in the deaths of two persons. It is not easy for the RA-Aus membership to locate coroners' findings on the internet; for example the RA-Aus website contains only two references* to coronial findings, one reveals 32 months between the accident and the date of the finding, the other is 54 months. Obviously a report on an event that occurred 4-6 years previously would be regarded as history by most RA-Aus members reading the coronial findings (particularly those many members who joined the association well after the reported accidents). Grossly delayed accident reporting lacks immediacy in its impact on the membership. It appears that the current national standard for coroners’ courts is that no lodgements pending completion are to be more than 24 months old, so perhaps recreational aviation accidents are regarded as less important and tend to drift toward the back-burner. *The fact that the RA-Aus website contains only two references to coronial findings is rather strange as one would presume RA-Aus, as active participants in coronial investigations, would be on the distribution list when the findings are published. Fatal recreational aviation accidents keep increasing while coronial investigations drag on. The Doctor Barry Uscinski inquiry took 50 months to complete but in a 50 month period between January 2011 and February 2015 inclusive, 29 RA-Aus accidents killed 38 persons and destroyed 30 aircraft. On top of that it was only extraordinarily good fortune that the October 2011 controlled flight collision with an operating Ferris wheel at Old Bar, NSW did not add members of the public at large to the toll. Recreational aviators are most certainly not getting safer, despite the introduction of human factors training and the more recent managerial measures. Perhaps the adage 'The more things change, the more they stay the same' is appropriate? The biggest problem is probably most pilots believe 'it can't happen to me!' I think recreational aviation might need some shock treatment and probably only extensive, perhaps even graphic, publication of the causal factors and the resultants of all 76 fatal accidents that have occurred since January 2001 might have sufficient shock value. Most of the above is extracted from the tutorial page at http://www.recreationalflying.com/tutorials/safety/intro2.html John Brandon RA-Aus Life Member

The Transport Safety Investigation Regulations define 'immediately reportable matters' thus: All aircraft operations (1) For the purposes of the definition of immediately reportable matter in subsection 3 (1) of the Act, the following investigable matters, in relation to an aircraft operation ... are prescribed: (a) ... the death of, or a serious injury to: (i) a person on board the aircraft or in contact with the aircraft or anything attached to the aircraft or anything that has become detached from the aircraft; or (ii) a person who has been directly exposed to jet blast; (b) the aircraft being missing; © the aircraft suffering serious damage, or the existence of reasonable grounds for believing that the aircraft has suffered serious damage; (d) the aircraft being inaccessible and the existence of reasonable grounds for believing that the aircraft has been seriously damaged; (e) breakdown of separation standards, being a failure to maintain a recognised separation standard (vertical, lateral or longitudinal) between aircraft that are being provided with an air traffic service separation service. Note: This may result from air traffic service, pilot or other actions, and may occur even if only 1 of the aircraft involved is under control of an airtraffic service. The TSI Regulations define only these following persons as responsible persons in relation to ATSB reportable matters: (a) a crew member of the aircraft concerned; (b) the owner or operator of the aircraft; © a person performing an air traffic control service in relation to the aircraft; (d) a person performing a dedicated aerodrome rescue or firefighting service in relation to the aircraft; (e) a person who: (i) is licensed as an aircraft maintenance engineer under the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 or the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998; and (ii) does any work in relation to the aircraft; (f) a member of the ground handling crew in relation to the aircraft; (g) a member of the staff of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority; (h) the operator of an aerodrome. So under the Regulations the State or Federal police have no responsibility for reporting anything to the ATSB nor do any RAAO personnel (RA-As operations staff for example), although there are informal reporting/co-operational relationships between RAAOs and ATSB. So in the case of the owner pilot dying in an RA-Aus accident there is generally no 'responsible person' who could be legally charged with failing to report an accident to ATSB, certainly not police or RA-Aus Operations. However the new Transport Safety Investigation Amendment Regulation, expected to be promulgated in late 2015, will add the following line to the above list of responsible persons to tidy the situation up: '(j) a recreational aviation administration organisation recognised by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.' John Brandon