Investigation Process

Aircraft accident or incident reporting:

A notification report with information and data about an accident or incident to the AAIASB was obligatory, based on law 2912/2001 (now Law 5014/2023 is in force).

The pilot-in-command, or if he shall be unable, a member of the crew or, if none of the crew is able, the aircraft owner or operator as well as any other person who may happen to notice or was informed of the accident, serious incident or incident within the Athens FIR, should 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 2912/2001, article 16).

The notification report was usually submitted directly to the AAIASB, but could also be submitted to the nearest Aviation, Airport, Police, or other local Authority, which should notify AAIASB immediatelly.

AAIASB actions after receiving an aviation accident or incident report

With the immediate notification of the AAISB about an incident or an accident, the Board Chairman formed 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 arrived at the location of the event as soon as possible.  The investigators were acting according to law 2912/2001 and had 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 was directly involved or knows something about the event.  The laboratory examination of powerplants, instruments, systems and parts of equipment of the aircraft were carried out in specialized and properly equipped national and international centers.

The Investigation Team collected and examined all data concerning an accident or incident in order to form an opinion about the causal factors involved.  Completion of this process leaded to the formulation of Safety Recommendations.

At the end of its investigative work, the Team used to prepare a Draft Report and submited it to the Board.

The Board examined the Draft Report and published the Final Report which was conveyed to the Minister of Infrastructure & Transport, to all the agencies and services that were directly or indirectly involved in the accident/incident, to ICAO, the European Commission, and if the incident or accident under investigation had been the cause of death or serious injuries, to the responsible Legislative Authority.  All data used for the purpose of the investigation remained in the possession of the AAIASB.

Safety Recommendations

Publication of Safety Recommendations that arised from the investigation of an accident or an incident was one of the goals of the Board’s mission.  The contents of a Safety Recommendation were linked to the causes of the accident or incident in question and did not constitute, in any case, evidence for blame, liability or responsibility.

Most of the Recommendations were published at the completion of the investigation and were included in the Final Report.  By exception, Safety Recommendations could also be published before the investigation had been completed if, in the Board’s opinion, there was immediate danger of future accidents or incidents due to identified deficiencies.

Safety Recommendations were addressed to those agencies that must take corrective action.