INVESTIGATION
PROCESS
A notification report
with information and data about an accident or incident to the AAIASB is obligatory, based on law 2912/01.
“The pilot-in-command, or if he should be unable, a member of the crew
or, if none of the crew are able, the aircraft owner or operator as well as any
other person who may happen to notice or be informed of the accident, serious
incident or incident within the Athens FIR, shall be required to promptly
notify the Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board…”.
“The competent authorities in charge of the control, supervision and
facilitation of flights, shall be required to notify immediately any accident
or serious incident which may occur during the operation of an aircraft and of
which they are informed to the Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board”.
(law
2912/01, article 16)
The notification report is usually submitted directly to the AAIASB, but may also be submitted to the nearest Aviation,
Airport, Police, or other local Authority.
The preferred method of notifing an accident
or incident is completion of the special form. Submission of the notification report may
also be done via telephone, fax, mail, electronic mail (e-mail), or even in
person at the Board offices.
With the immediate notification of the AAISB about an incident or an accident, the Board Chairman
forms an Investigation Team consisting of full time investigators from the Unit
and, if called for by the complexity of the accident or incident, consultants
with expertise in specialized areas of civil aviation.
The Investigation Team arrives at the location
of the event as soon as possible. The
investigators act according to law 2912/01 and have free access to data
(wreckage, transcripts, training and medical files of those involved, manuals,
etc.) concerning the event under investigation, as well as the right to obtain
statements from anyone who is directly involved or knows something about the
event. The laboratory examination of powerplants, instruments, systems and parts of equipment of
the aircraft are carried out in specialized and properly equipped national and
international centers.
The Investigation Team collects and
examines all data concerning an accident or incident in order to form an
opinion about the causal factors involved.
Completion of this process leads to the formulation of Safety Recommendations.
At the end of its investigative work, the Team
puts together a Draft Report and submits it to the Board.
The Board examines the Draft Report and
publishes the Final Report which is conveyed to the Minister of Transport and
Communications, to all the agencies and services that are directly or
indirectly involved in the accident/incident, to ICAO,
the European Commission, and if the incident or accident under investigation
has been the cause of death or serious injuries, to the responsible Legislative
Authority. All data used for the purpose
of the investigation remain in the possession of the AAIASB.
Publication of Safety Recommendations that arise from the
investigation of an accident or an incident is one of the goals of the Board’s
mission. The contents of a Safety
Recommendation are linked to the causes of the accident or incident in question
and do not constitute, in any case, evidence for blame, liability or
responsibility.
Most of the
Recommendations are published at the completion of the investigation and are
included in the Final Report. By
exception, Safety Recommendations may also be published before the
investigation has been completed if, in the Board’s opinion, there is immediate
danger of future accidents or incidents due to identified deficiencies.
Safety
Recommendations are addressed to those agencies that must take corrective
action.