The Australian Transport Safety Investigation (TSI) Act (2003) defines an accident site as:
- a site containing the transport vehicle or any of its wreckage;
- a site where there is an impact point associated with the accident;
- if the accident involved destruction or serious damage to property (other than the transport vehicle) – a site containing that property or any of its wreckage;
To complete the definition, the TSI also couples the above descriptors with the specification “together with such area around the site as the Chief Commissioner determines to be reasonably necessary to facilitate the investigation and securing the site” (Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing, 2003).
This added specification basically broadens an accident site to not just the immediate area, but to also include a possible further and separate area that the Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) deems to be required in order to complete or finalise an investigation.
While this definition may initially appear to be thorough in terms of defining an area or physical space, it does not address the factor that some accidents may occur in mid-air (resulting in injury or even death) and yet the respective aircraft lands safely. One such example is Qantas Flight 72.
In this instance, an Airbus A330 (operated as Qantas flight 72) was en-route from Singapore to Perth at 37,000 feet and a sudden change in altitude (caused by the output of incorrect data by the aircraft’s air data reference units) caused the aircraft to automatically pitch down without warning. This resulted in injuries to 110 of the 303 passengers. 9 crew members were also injured (Australian Transport Safety Bureau, 2011).
The flight crew were able to regain control of the aircraft and subsequently land the aircraft at Learmonth Airport – approximately 1200km north of Perth (ABC News, 2008).
In accordance to Section 5.1 of ICAO Annex 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) – and further defined in the TSI Act (2003), the ATSB conducted an investigation into Qantas Flight 72 and classified it as a “Complex investigation”. The injury level was also classified as “Serious” – and yet there was no accident site, no wreckage and nor was there a physical impact site that investigators could gather evidence from.
Further relating this accident to the TSI definition of an accident site, there was also no destruction or serious damage to other property and there was no specific area that the Chief Commissioner could possibly secure to facilitate the investigation. The investigators did analyse the various control units and flight data recorders on the respective aircraft but only after it had safely landed at Learmonth Airport – an estimated 154km distance from the actual mid-air location of the accident (Australian Transport Safety Bureau, 2011).
As per ICAO and ATSB guidelines, a serious accident did occur on Qantas Flight 72 and yet there was no physical site or impact point (or property damage) that held evidence of this accident. In this case, the TSI definition for an accident site does not cater for Qantas Flight 72.
References
ABC News. (2008, October 7). Passengers injured in Qantas mid-air incident. Retrieved from ABC News: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-10-07/passengers-injured-in-qantas-mid-air-incident/534136
Australian Transport Safety Bureau. (2011). In-flight upset – Airbus A330-303, VH-QPA, 154 km west of Learmonth, WA, 7 October 2008 – AO-2008-070. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.
Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing. (2003). Transport Safety Investigation Act. Canberra, Australia: Comonwealth of Australia.
