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Annual Safety Review 2014
General Aviation
PAGE
88
General Aviation
Scope
The General Aviation (GA) Sector is extremely broad, covering many different types of air vehicles from tradition‑
al aircraft and helicopters to balloons, gliders, and other types of aviation. To aid in the operations of this type of
aviation, EASA has initiated the GA Roadmap project with the aim of developing lighter, simpler and better rules.
At the centre of the GA Roadmap is a safety analysis and risk management process that will be carried out in
partnership with individuals and organisations from the different GA sectors. With respect to the Hot Air Balloon
Sector, work identifying the key risk areas and the associated safety issues has already begun. Work of a similar
type, but involving the GA Fixed Wing Sector, will soon commence. A key task supporting the GA Roadmap is the
collection of flight usage data that will allow for a more accurate calculation of the accident and incident rates.
This information is vital to set the safety analysis in the context of any growth or contraction of the different sec‑
tors and help achieve the goals of the GA Roadmap to simplify and improve rules for GA. A short questionnaire
will be used to collect this data directly from clubs and individuals.
The data in in this chapter is laid out in a similar way to previous reviews by covering the General Aviation as
a whole before considering each constituent sector in more detail. For each sub‑sector in GA the key risk areas
are identified and for Hot Air Ballooning a full Safety Risk Portfolio is provided covering the main safety issues.
The safety risk management process will be used to develop similar Safety Risk Portfolios for all the different
parts of the GA sector. The Safety Risk Portfolios and the supporting information on safety risks will be publi‑
cised as widely as possible across the GA community so keep an eye on the EASA website for more information.
The data used in this Chapter of the review covers accidents involving aircraft not exceeding 2,250 kg MTOM
that have been provided to EASA by the EASA MS through the Network of Analysts. For 2014 data was only miss‑
ing from one EASA MS, Bulgaria. In this case, the data already provided through accident notifications from the
Bulgarian AIB have been used as the main source of information. For the year 2014, one State; Liechtenstein
reported zero accidents in its territory. Three countries, France, Germany and the UK reported 60% of all the ac‑
cidents in the EASA MS in 2014.