According to the European Cockpit Association (ECA), pilots in the region are pleased about the European Commission’s December 19 announcement of a new accident/incident occurrence reporting system.

The main objective of the new law is to ensure that all occurrences that could endanger aviation safety are reported, properly collected and effectively analyzed to provide a complete and clear picture of aviation safety risks in the European Union. The system should further ensure that all safety information, stored in the European Common Repository, is accessed adequately by appropriate authorities and used strictly for safety enhancement purposes.

“The new regulation creates a comprehensive framework for improving the quality and completeness of occurrence data and for timely identification of safety hazards,” said the professional pilots group. “It also provides for confidentiality of certain information, which will encourage safety professionals, including pilots, to report incidents and thereby ‘feed’ a forward-looking accident prevention system across Europe.”

Nico Voorbach, ECA president, said, “This regulation was an absolute necessity for a more efficient European [safety] reporting system. It will shift the focus from a primarily reactive system, where we tried to learn from accidents, to a proactive risk, to an evidence-based system.”