Procedures for Reporting Occurrences in Civil Aviation

Republic of Latvia

Cabinet

Regulation No 1033

Adopted 27 December 2005

Procedures for Reporting Occurrences in Civil Aviation

Issued pursuant to

Section 64, Paragraph four of

the Law On Aviation

1. These Regulations prescribe the procedures by which occurrences involving aircraft flight safety shall be reported.

2. These Regulations apply to occurrences which endanger or which, if they are not corrected, would endanger an aircraft, persons who are in the aircraft or any other person.

3. Occurrences, which must be reported in accordance with the procedures specified in these Regulations, are referred to in Annex 1 and Annex 2 of these Regulations. These Regulations shall also apply to such occurrences not referred to in Annex 1 and Annex 2 of these Regulations, but which conform to the criteria referred to in Paragraph 2 of these Regulations.

4. Information regarding all occurrences referred to in Paragraph 2 of these Regulations shall be compiled and stored in a report database established by the Civil Aviation Agency. The information regarding accidents and serious occurrences shall also be included in a database, as well as the investigation results thereof. A report database of the Civil Aviation Agency shall be available to the head of the Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau.

5. The following persons, in performing his or her service duties, shall notify the Civil Aviation Agency regarding the occurrences referred to in Paragraph 2 of these Regulations:

5.1. a pilot-in-command or an aircraft operator under the oversight of the Civil Aviation Agency;

5.2. a person who carries on the business of designing, manufacturing, technical maintaining or modifying an aircraft, or any equipment or part thereof, under the oversight of the Civil Aviation Agency;

5.3. a person who certifies the technical maintenance of an aircraft under the oversight of the Civil Aviation Agency, equipment or part thereof or allows an aircraft to be operated;

5.4. a person who performs a function of an air traffic controller or a flight information officer;

5.5. a manager of an airport covered by Council Regulations (EEC) No. 2408/92 of 23 July 1992 on access for Community air carriers to intra-Community air routes;

5.6. a person who performs a function connected with the installation, modification, maintenance, repair, overhaul, flight-checking or inspection of air navigation facilities; and

5.7. a person who performs a function connected with the ground-handling (including fuelling, cleaning, loadsheet preparation, loading and de-icing of an aircraft, and towing at an airport) and to which Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2408/92 of 23 July 1992 on access for Community air carriers to intra-Community air routes shall apply.

6. A report shall be submitted to the Civil Aviation Agency by the persons referred to in Paragraph 7 of these Regulations within 72 hours of the moment when an occurrence has been determined, unless exceptional circumstances delay the submission of the report.

7. A report shall be submitted using a sample form referred to in Annex 3 of these Regulations.

8. The information referred to in Annex 3 of these Regulations shall be included in an occurrence report.

9. The Civil Aviation Agency shall be liable for the duly and proper entering of the information received in a database, as well as the duly provision of the information to the Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau.

10. In order to ensure the exchange and storage of the information, the Civil Aviation Agency shall use the software developed by the European Commission.

11. The Civil Aviation Agency shall participate in the exchange and dissemination of information related to flight safety, by making all necessary information stored in the database of the Civil Aviation Agency available to the competent authorities and the European Commission, as well as this use the relevant databases of the competent authorities of other European union Member States, not forwarding the information obtained.

12. The Civil Aviation Agency shall enter the received occurrence report into the database and notify, if necessary, the competent authority of the Member State where the occurrence took place, where the aircraft is registered, where the aircraft is manufactured or where the operator is certified.

13. The Civil Aviation Agency together with the Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau shall publish at least once a year a safety review to inform the public of the level of safety in civil aviation, using the information compiled in the database of the Civil Aviation Agency.

14. The given names, surnames and addresses of natural persons (regardless of the type or category of occurrence, accident or serious occurrence) shall not be indicated in a database of the Civil Aviation Agency.

15. The Civil Aviation Agency shall also maintain a database of voluntary reporting to collect and analyse information on observed deficiencies in aviation which are not required to be reported under the system of mandatory reporting, but which are perceived by the reporter as an actual or potential hazard. The information in this database shall be included so it is not possible to identify a reporter or any other third person and such database shall be available to the competent authorities of other European Union Member States and the European Commission.

Informative Reference to European Union Directives

These Regulations contain legal norms arising from Directive 2003/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2003 on occurrence reporting in civil aviation.

Prime Minister A. Kalvītis

Minister for Transport A. Šlesers

Annex 1

Cabinet Regulation No. 1033

27 December 2005

List of aircraft operations, maintenance, repair, and manufacture-related occurrences to be reported

I. Operation of the aircraft

1. Aircraft operations related occurrences to be reported:

1.1. avoidance manoeuvres:

1.1.1. risk of collision with another aircraft, terrain or other object or an unsafe situation when avoidance action would have been appropriate;

1.1.2. an avoidance manoeuvre required to avoid a collision with another aircraft, terrain or other object; and

1.1.3. avoidance from other unsafe situations;

1.2. take-off or landing occurrences, including precautionary or forced landings outside the runway or running off the runway;

1.3. inability to achieve predicted performance during take-off or initial climb;

1.4. critically low fuel quantity or inability to transfer fuel or use total quantity of usable fuel;

1.5. loss of control of the aircraft (including partial or temporary) regardless of the cause;

1.6. occurrences, which occur when the aircraft is close to maximum speed or reaches it, at which point it is possible to take a decision regarding the continuing of or discontinuation of a flight (V1), and resulting from or producing a hazardous or potentially hazardous situation (e.g. rejected take-off, tail strike, engine-power loss etc.).

1.7. go around producing a hazardous or potentially hazardous situation;

1.8. unintentional significant deviation from airspeed, intended track or altitude (more than 300 ft) regardless of the cause;

1.9. descent below the decision height or altitude or minimum descent height or altitude without the required visual reference;

1.10. loss of position awareness relative to actual position or to other aircraft;

1.11. breakdown in communication between the flight crew (CRM) or between the flight crew and cabin crew, Air Traffic Control, engineering;

1.12. heavy landing deemed to require a check of the relevant conditions;

1.13. exceedance of fuel imbalance limits;

1.14. incorrect setting of an secondary surveillance radar code or of an altimeter subscale;

1.15. incorrect programming of data into, equipment used for navigation, or erroneous entering of the data for the calculation of technical characteristics therein, as well as the use of incorrect data;

1.16. incorrect receipt or interpretation of radiotelephony messages;

1.17. fuel system malfunctions or defects, which had an effect on fuel supply or distribution;

1.18. aircraft unintentionally departing from a paved surface;

1.19. collision between an aircraft and any other aircraft, vehicle or other ground object;

1.20. inadvertent or incorrect operation of any controls;

1.21. inability to achieve the intended aircraft configuration for any flight phase (e.g. the position of landing gear, gear doors, flaps, stabilisers, slats etc.);

1.22. a hazard or potential hazard which arises as a consequence of any deliberate simulation of failure conditions for training, system checks or training purposes;

1.23. abnormal vibration;

1.24. operation of any primary warning system associated with manoeuvring the aircraft (e.g. configuration warning, stall warning (stick shaker), over-speed warning) unless:

1.24.1. the crew did not conclusively establish that the indication was false and provided that the false warning did not result in any difficulty or hazard arising from the crew response to the warning; or

1.24.2. operated for training or test purposes;

1.25. operation of ground proximity warning systems when nearing the ground dangerously, when:

1.25.1. the aircraft comes into closer proximity to the ground than it had been planned or anticipated;

1.25.2. the warning is experienced in instrument meteorological conditions or at night and is established as having been triggered by a high rate of descent;

1.25.3. the warning results from failure to select landing gear or landing flaps by the appropriate point on the approach; and

1.25.4. any difficulty or hazard arises or might have arisen as a result of crew response to the "warning" (e.g. possible reduced separation from other traffic). This could include warning of any mode or type i.e. genuine, nuisance or false;

1.26. warning system alert in the case of a hazardous approach to the ground when any difficulty or hazard arises or might have arisen as a result of crew response to the alert;

1.27. Airborne Collision Avoidance System Resolution Advisories (ACAS RAs); and

1.28. jet or propeller blast occurrences (where due to a blast significant damage or serious injury have been caused).

2. Emergencies:

2.1. fire, explosion, smoke or toxic or noxious fumes (also when the flames were extinguished);

2.2. the use of any non-standard procedure by the flight or cabin crew to deal with an emergency when:

2.2.1. the procedure exists but is not used;

2.2.2. the procedure does not exist;

2.2.3. the procedure exists but is incomplete or inappropriate;

2.2.4. the procedure is incorrect; or

2.2.5. the incorrect procedure is used;

2.3. inadequacy of any procedures designed to be used in an emergency (including when being used for maintenance, training or test purposes);

2.4. an event leading to an emergency evacuation;

2.5. depressurisation;

2.6. the use of any emergency equipment or prescribed emergency procedures in order to deal with a situation;

2.7. an event leading to the declaration of an emergency;

2.8. failure of any emergency system or equipment (including all exit doors and lighting) to perform satisfactorily (including when being used for maintenance, training or test purposes); and

2.9. events requiring any use of emergency oxygen by any crew member (including cabin crew).

3. Crew incapacitation:

3.1. incapacitation of any member of the flight crew, including that which occurs prior to departure if it is considered that the departure could have resulted in incapacitation after take-off; and

3.2. incapacitation of any member of the cabin crew, which renders them unable to perform essential emergency duties.

4. Injury:

4.1. occurrences, which have or could have led to significant injury to passengers or crew but which are not considered reportable as an accident.

5. Meteorology:

5.1. a lightning strike which resulted in damage to the aircraft, as a result of which some of the basic equipment of the aircraft does not work or malfunctions;

5.2. a hail strike which resulted in damage to the aircraft as a result of which some of the basic equipment of the aircraft does not work or malfunctions;

5.3. a severe turbulence encounter, an encounter resulting in injury to occupants or deemed to require a check of the aircraft;

5.4. a windshear encounter; and

5.5. an icing encounter resulting in handling difficulties, damage to the aircraft, as a result of which some of the basic equipment of the aircraft does not work or malfunctions.

6. Aviation security:

6.1. unlawful interference with the aircraft including a bomb threat or hijack;

6.2. difficulty in controlling intoxicated, violent or unruly passengers; and

6.3. discovery of a stowaway.

7. Other occurrences:

7.1. repetitive instances of a specific type of occurrence which in isolation would not be considered "reportable" but which due to the frequency with which they arise form a potential hazard;

7.2. a bird strike which resulted in damage to the aircraft, as a result of which some of the basic equipment of the aircraft does not work or malfunctions;

7.3. waketurbulence encounters; and

7.4. any other occurrence of any type considered to have endangered or which might have endangered the aircraft or its occupants on board or on the ground.

II. Aircraft Technical State

8. Not all structural failures need to be reported. Engineering judgement is required to decide whether a failure is serious enough to be reported. Structural damage that needs to be reported:

8.1. damage to a principal structural element (Principal Structural Element) (hereinafter -PSE) that has not been designated as damage-tolerant (life-limited element). PSE are elements which contribute significantly to carrying flight, ground, and pressurisation loads, and the failure of which could result in a catastrophic failure of the aircraft;

8.2. defect or damage exceeding admissible damages to a PSE that has been designated as damage-tolerant;

8.3. damage to or defect exceeding allowed tolerances of a structural element, the failure of which could reduce the structural stiffness to such an extent that control of the aircraft is no longer possible;

8.4. damage to or defect of a structural element, which could result in the liberation of items of large mass that may injure occupants of the aircraft;

8.5. damage to or defect of a structural element, which could jeopardise proper operation of systems (Paragraph 9 of this Annex); and

8.6. loss of any part of the aircraft structure in flight.

9. Systems:

9.1. loss, significant malfunction or defect of any system, subsystem or set of equipment when standard operating procedures, drills etc. could not be satisfactorily accomplished; and

9.2. inability of the crew to control the system, for example:

9.2.1. uncommanded actions;

9.2.2. incorrect or incomplete response (including limitation of movement or stiffness);