AviaCert summarizes the results of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Safety Review, which has been published annually since 2005, and looks at the current challenges in the context of European aviation safety.
In the Annual Safety Review 2022, which was published at the end of August, data on accidents and incidents from 2021 were taken into account and compared with the figures from previous years. According to the report, air traffic in 2021 remains stable at a safe level. Once again, no fatal accidents were recorded for commercially operated large aircraft in Europe in 2021 - an encouraging ongoing trend since 2016. At the same time, however, an increase in the total number of accidents and serious incidents was recorded in this area from 34 in 2020 to 60 in 2021 - with an average value of 83 for the period from 2011.
The term "accident" is precisely defined in Regulation (EU) 996/2010. In addition to the temporal component - in the case of manned aircraft, the event must take place during a period in which there are persons on board - the extent of the damage also plays a role in the categorization. Put simply, in the case of an aviation accident, either
- at least one person fatally or seriously injured,
- Damage the aircraft to such an extent that the strength of the airframe or the flight performance/characteristics are impaired; or
- the aircraft is missing or it is not accessible.
An "incident" does not meet the criteria of an accident, but it too constitutes an event in which the safe operation of an aircraft is (or could be) impaired.
According to ICAO Annex 19 "Safety Management", the risk posed by a safety-relevant event can be determined by the probability of occurrence and the extent of damage. According to EASA, however, this only provides an incomplete picture of the risk of the corresponding events. For example, slight changes in the sequence of events could quickly turn an incident into a serious aviation accident. Against this background, EASA has developed the so-called European Risk Classification Scheme (ERCS), which, among other things, also takes into account the theoretically possible extent of damage in the event of an accident. According to EASA, the greatest safety risk for commercially operated airliners in 2021 was posed by a possible mid-air collision. The undercutting of the minimum separation of IFR and VFR flights plays a significant role here. Runway excursions were also assessed with a high ERCS score, which is particularly justified by the low control capability of the aircraft at touchdown.
The identification and assessment of potential risks are also of great importance for other areas of aviation. For example, in the certification of airports, safety assessments are carried out to determine whether safety is impaired in the event of possible partial deviations from the legally binding requirements.
In the current context, EASA sees fatigue and stress in particular as a safety-critical factor in the aviation sector, since the traffic figures, which are rising again after two pandemic years, are encountering airlines and airports weakened by staff and resource cuts. The consequences were also visible to the public over the course of the summer in the form of long waiting times at airport security checkpoints around the globe.
Potential cyberattacks also pose a threat to the aviation system in light of increasing digitalization. Against this background, EASA is working on a regulatory framework that provides for the implementation of an information security management system (iSMS) as a supplement to existing safety management systems (SMS) in the organizations.
Despite the ever-changing challenges of maintaining and improving aviation safety, EASA is confident that the European aviation system will remain stable, safe and reliable in the years to come.
With over two decades of aviation experience in an interdisciplinary team, AviaCert has the necessary competencies in dealing with the topic of safety in aviation. This includes, among other things, the procedure for dealing with deviations from technical standards, the assessment of the risks they may pose, and the development of solutions for safe flight operations, which is a daily challenge for airports around the globe.