Georgia: The Georgian Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia (GCAA) held a working meeting with representatives of active aircraft manufacturers on Tuesday, as part of the external review of the new aviation incident notification project.
The project aims to improve aviation safety standards and prevent aviation accidents by enhancing the reporting and investigation of aviation incidents.
The participants of the meeting learned about the new requirements and obligations under the “aviation incident notification and aviation incident information” rule, which will apply to aircraft manufacturers once the rule is passed.
The rule, which is developed by the European Union regulations, establishes the obligation to report aviation incidents that pose or could pose a threat to aircraft, its persons on board, or any other person, as well as to the devices and equipment that affect the safe flight of aircraft.
The rule also sets out more complete and detailed requirements for the collection, analysis, storage, use, and follow-up of aviation incident information, as well as the protection of aviation professionals and the formation of a non-judgmental culture in aviation industries.
The rule includes the obligation to implement an aviation incident investigation, implement an aviation event investigation procedure, and require the agency to submit documentation related to the investigation of an aviation incident. In addition, the rule takes into account requirements concerning the competence of the aviation incident investigator.
The agency also presented the aviation event report for 2023, which showed the statistical data and the analysis of the aviation events recorded last year.
The agency stressed that the aviation incident reporting culture has increased in recent years, but more efforts are needed to be directed towards a systematic implementation of the aviation incident reporting mechanism across all aviation areas, as well as the internal investigations and the establishment of a non-criminal environment in aircraft industries, which will be aimed not at exposing personnel guilt, but at improving aviation safety.
The new rule for the dissemination of aviation event notification and aviation event information will be adopted from March 1, 2024, and is scheduled to go into effect from October 1, 2024. The Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia is one of the first in the region to implement the aviation event notification system, which was adopted in 2014.
As part of the implementation of the regulation, significant work has been done to make the incident reporting process a mechanism of action to improve aviation safety standards, implement effective supervision, and prevent aviation accidents.
