Page 5 - Index

Adrian Young

Figure 1. The image shows a track for a particular airside vehicle.

tor that this paper addresses, more than data from insurance organizations and
the investigation body—the air operators the International Air Transport Associa-
that use the airport or the air navigation tion does not show the same downward
service provider (ANSP) that provides air trend in accidents, at least not when
traffic services. measured again costs to the industry.
As ISASI members over the years have Allianz, in its 2020 safety report, states
discussed, aviation safety has been built, that some ground accidents have gone
in part, on the acquisition and use of “largely unnoticed by the industry.”
data. And there are two trends that ISASI A consequence of the fact that air-
members will recognize: there are fewer port accidents, even ones that result in
and fewer accidents to commercial air fatalities, are not covered by Annex 13
traffic worldwide—for which we are all is that investigations may be performed
grateful—and aircraft data sources have by the police, judiciary, or other body—
grown larger and larger. The air opera- none of whom, as a rule, has the same
tor has flight data recorder/flight data interest in “just culture,” learning from
monitoring (FDR/FDM) data, and the mistakes that is embodied in its working
ANSP has radar and other sensor data, practices.
but the airport often has none of this. Air
operators have access to vast amounts of And Then I Adopted the Brace Position
safety data, more than they can some- To illustrate, I would like to offer a brief
times actually make use of. Airports tend anecdote from an incident in 2018 that
not to generate data that is of use to the I—sitting in the passenger cabin—wit-
investigator, and while air accidents are nessed. The airport in question permits
declining, ground incidents do not seem intersection takeoffs.
to follow this trend. The airplane I was in lined up for a
The picture is not wholly clear, but full-length takeoff while another air-

January-March 2022 ISASI Forum • 5