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Airspace safety in New Zealand: A causal analysis of controller caused airspace incidents between 1994-2002

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2016

A. Majumdar ,
W. Y. Ochieng  and
P. Nalder
A. Majumdar
Affiliation:
Centre for Transport Studies, Imperial College, London
W. Y. Ochieng
Affiliation:
Centre for Transport Studies, Imperial College, London
P. Nalder
Affiliation:
Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
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Abstract

The New Zealand Government takes airspace safety very seriously. The level of safety in New Zealand airspace is measured by the number of recorded airspace incidents. An airspace incident can be thought of as a failure in the chain of operations in the air traffic system when it is provided with an air traffic service (ATS). Some of these incidents result in a loss of separation between aircraft, varying from slight to a very serious loss with a significant risk of collision, known as a near collision. New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) identifies the causal factors for all airspace incidents using the Reason model of human error, divided into three areas; active failures committed by individuals involved in the incident, local factors relating to the task and the ATS environment and organisational factors originating in the managerial and organisation spheres of the ATS provider. Based upon the CAA’s database, this paper analyses trends in controller caused incidents in the NZ airspace during the period 1994 to 2002 in six controller caused categories. The results indicate that for controller caused incidents, execution errors dominate the active failures category, while in the case of local factors, poor concentration/lack of attention, inadequate checking and controller workload are the dominant factors. For the organisation category, poor planning and inadequate control and monitoring dominate. These results should form the basis of a robust and transparent framework for intervention mechanisms by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority for enhanced airspace safety.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 108 , Issue 1083 , May 2004 , pp. 225 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2004 

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