Using Aviation Insurance Data to Enhance General Aviation Safety: Phase One Feasibility Study

Abstract

The Aviation Safety Foundation Australasia commissioned the Monash University Accident Research Centre to undertake a study to assess the feasibility of using data held by aviation insurers in support of the development of an electronic database for storing accident and incident data. This chapter reports on some of the outcomes of the feasibility study, which included the following tasks: a review of the various sources of aviation safety data in Australia; a review of publicly available general aviation accident analyses; a review of the human error models that underpin the accident investigation process; and an analysis of a subset of claims held by the participating aviation insurers. While some inconsistencies in the insurance data were noted, further stages of the project aim to develop procedures to enhance the consistency of the insurance data such that it will contain sufficient information to permit a meaningful understanding of the causal and contributory factors involved in general aviation accidents and incidents.