Sector safety performance

Between 2014 and 2023, there were 445 Agricultural flying occurrences in Australia reported to the ATSB.

There were 71 accidents with 7 fatal accidents.

Table 1: The breakdown of occurrences across the sector. Source: ATSB occurrence database (2014 to 2023)
Occurrence categoryMusteringSpreading/sprayingOther agriculturalTotal
Fatal accidents79117
Total accidents719212175
Serious Incidents91851195
Incidents1059675
Total9033619445

Accidents per million flying hours

We analysed ATSB occurrences rates for agricultural flying.

Table 2 shows the rate of accidents, serious incidents, and incidents per million flying hours from 2014 to 2023 in this sector. A decreasing trend is clear for accidents as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: ATSB accident rate (per 1 million movements) for all operations from agricultural flying (2014 to 2023). (We estimated the 2023 flight hours by the average of 2014 to 2022.)

Table 2: BITRE, ATSB Occurrence Database
Rates / 1 Million HoursMusteringSpreading/SprayingOther AgriculturalAll Agricultural
Fatal Accident Rate4.79.84.86.5
Total Accident Rate47.461.48.066.6
Serious Incident Rate9.8201.41.174.3
Incident Rate47.7281.428.628.6
Total 10Y flight hours1,497,700918,400209,6702,625,770
Average annual hours149,77091,84020,967262,577
Enlarge image
ATSB accident rate from 2014 to 2024. It shows a clear decreasing trend over time.
Figure 2: Source: BITRE, ATSB Occurrence Database

 

Published date: 24 January 2025
Online version available at: https://www.casa.gov.au//index.php/operations-safety-and-travel/safety-management-systems/sector-safety-risk-profiles/agricultural-flying-sector-safety-risk-profile/sector-safety-performance
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