The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has released its Annual Safety Review 2014.
Worldwide Aviation Safety
16 fatal accidents occurred in 2014 involving Commercial Air Transport aeroplanes. This is compared with 14 fatal accidents in the previous year. The number of fatal accidents in 2014 was still significantly below the average number of fatal accidents for the previous 10 years (2004-2013).
The biggest change in 2014 was the increase in fatalities when compared with 2013. In 2014 there were 648 fatalities in Fixed Wing Commercial Air Transport compared with 185 in 2013. The 2014 increase in fatalities was the result of accidents that involved larger aircraft that were carrying more passengers than those accidents which occurred in 2013. In 2013 no single accident involved more than 50 fatalities. The number of fatalities in 2014 was 1.5% higher than the average for the previous 10 years.
EASA Member States
There was 1 fatal accident involving EASA Member State aircraft during 2014. This was the Swiftair operated Air Algerie Flight 5017 accident in Mali on 24 July 2014 resulting in 116 fatalities. There were 26 non‑fatal accidents in 2014, an increase of 22 from 2013 figures. However, there was a reduction in serious incidents from 74 down to 66.
This year’s Annual Safety Review includes changes to the content, which include more detailed analyses of the causes of safety occurrences that help to link the review to the EASp. In addition, EASA, has developed a set of safety risk portfolios that cover European commercial air transport aeroplanes and offshore helicopter operations. These portfolios link safety issues to their associated potential consequences or risk areas. They are live documents that will continually evolve, on the basis of further safety analysis and the changing aviation system.
The EASA Annual Safety Review may be downloaded from the EASA website.
