Background
Accident and incident rates are crucial for measuring safety performance in commercial aviation. These rates are calculated by dividing the number of accidents or incidents during a specific period by a measure of exposure, like the number of flights within that timeframe. However, different aviation regulators, trade organizations, and stakeholders often have varying definitions and classifications of accidents, leading to inconsistencies in reporting.
In 2010, the European Commission, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) came together to create a Global Safety Information Exchange (GSIE). The main goal of the GSIE is to share information that can enhance risk-reduction efforts in aviation. At the launch, ICAO emphasized that the GSIE would help reduce accident risks and improve global aviation safety.
By 2011, the GSIE began working on a harmonised accident rate. ICAO and IATA collaborated to align their definitions, criteria, and methods for calculating this rate, which serves as a key safety indicator for commercial aviation. This analysis encompasses accidents that meet the ICAO Annex 13 criteria, covering typical operations for both scheduled and unscheduled flights. The GSIE harmonised accident rate is expressed in accidents per million sectors and includes all commercial operations, including ferry flights with a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) over 5,700 kg. A common taxonomy was developed to allow both organizations to integrate accident data effectively.
Accident Categories
The GSIE categorizes accidents into several types:
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Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT): This category includes cases where an aircraft is flown into terrain under control, regardless of crew awareness. However, it excludes undershoots, overshoots, or collisions during takeoff and landing, which fall under runway safety.
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Loss of Control-In Flight (LOC-I): This refers to situations where an aircraft loses control while airborne and does not recover.
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Runway Safety (RS): This covers events like runway excursions, incursions, undershoots/overshoots, tail strikes, and hard landings.
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Ground Safety (GS): This includes ramp safety issues, ground collisions, and events related to ground servicing, preflight checks, engine starts, departures, and arrivals. Taxi and towing incidents are also part of this category.
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Operational Damage (OD): Damage that occurs while the aircraft is operating under its own power falls into this category. It includes in-flight damage, foreign object debris, and system or component failures.
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Injuries and/or Incapacitation of Persons (MED): This covers all injuries or incapacitations sustained by anyone who comes into direct contact with the aircraft structure. It includes turbulence-related injuries, injuries to ground staff, and onboard injuries or incapacitations, as well as fatalities not related to unlawful external interference.
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Other (OTH): Any events that do not fit into the listed categories are classified here.
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Unknown (UNK): This category includes events where the exact cause cannot be determined or where there is insufficient information to classify the event conclusively.
