Abstract:
The Member States of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are
facing an increased challenge to improve their aircraft accident investigation
capability. This area is the least compliant, according to the ICAO Universal
Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). While existing literature covers
many topics of relevance to transport accident investigation, there is a paucity of
research that tackles the challenge of how to improve capability in States that
have limited resources or absence of a functional Accident Investigation Authority
(AIA). Understanding the many aspects of what may be described as ‘capability’
represents an important step towards identifying a roadmap for the lessdeveloped States.
This study explores the concept of capability in the context of a ‘not-for-blame’
State-level aircraft accident investigation function. It achieves this through a
systematic literature review, followed by interviews and a survey with experienced
investigators. The output is a proposed eight-dimension framework to guide lessdeveloped States to establish their AIA and develop its capability.
The results of the study demonstrate that investigation is a cooperative activity
depending on multi-scale collaboration by all involved States. In turn, this requires
international assistance to obtain appropriate expertise and achieve the required
level of quality. Emphasising the independence of the AIA in local legislation and
regulations and ensuring effective separation of the investigation process from
any administration and/or judicial proceedings were the most notable factors
apart from the organisation model. The study provides insights by generating
guidance to develop the capability of the AIA. The achievement includes a
maturity model to show the evolution of the AIA over three different stages,
defined as initial, established and optimised, to help prioritise actions.