The Part 135 non-scheduled passenger operations sector operates in a diverse range of environments across Australia. These operations require:
- effective planning
- sound decision-making
- the ability to manage risks that may vary significantly between locations and flight types.
The safety data reviewed during the workshop shows that higher-severity occurrences remain relatively uncommon across the sector. However, recurring themes continue to emerge within the occurrence data.
They found 5 priority safety issues as having the greatest potential to influence safety performance across the sector:
- Aerodromes
- Airspace and Separation
- Weather
- Maintenance
- Standardisation and pilot competency.
Factors that contribute to risk include:
- technical defects
- aircraft separation events
- communication issues
- changing technology
- ageing aircraft and infrastructure
- increasing complexity and workload
- resource constraints
- delays in medical approvals
- pilot competency and manual handling skills
- lack of compliance with standard operating procedures
- the ongoing cost of implementing effective Safety Management Systems.
The report discusses these issues throughout the five priority safety topics instead of covering them in separate sections.
While these events do not always result in accidents, they provide valuable insight into which safety controls to strengthen and what requires continued attention. Discussions confirmed that many safety risks arise from the interaction of operational, environmental and organisational factors rather than from a single event.
Maintenance issues such as technical defects or limited engineering support can affect aircraft availability and decision-making. Operators should consider technical, environmental and human factors together when managing these risks through their SMS.