Abstract:
The focus here is on mid-air collisions for aircraft under air traffic control (ATC), but
recognising that (eg) accidents on runways and taxiways can be equally catastrophic.
How can Europe know if safety levels are consistently high in all its States? Levels
of safety are very high, so there are very few accidents, certainly not on a State
basis, to make such an assessment. Hence, data from ATM safety incidents have to
be used. What is an incident – or a severe incident? Traditionally, severity is defined
in terms of the degree of risk associated with an observed event – but this just
replaces one abstraction by another; or through assessments by an expert group –
so how is consistency assured between States and over time?
