The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) processed over 12,500 incident reports in 2024 – significantly more than in previous years, as detailed in the recently published Annual Safety Report. Incident reports contribute to the ongoing improvement of safety on the ground and in the air. Last year, there was one fatal accident in commercial aviation in Switzerland.
A brief overview of the other statistics contained in the 2024 report: an increase of approximately 20% in the number of reported incidents in commercial and general aviation, significantly more incidents involving verbally aggressive, intoxicated or violent passengers, 32% more runway incursions, 21% more aircraft damage during ground handling, 40% more GPS jamming, 13% more wildlife strikes, 8% more loading errors, 20% more near collisions between aircraft mid-air, the same number of drone conflicts, more laser attacks, one fatal accident in commercial aviation, three accidents with a total of six fatalities in general aviation, and a helicopter collision with a cable that resulted in the death of one pilot and serious injury to another. The number of incidents reported has been increasing since 2019, mainly because of an improved reporting culture, the increase of commercial air traffic to pre-COVID levels and more conflict regions with more large-scale GPS jamming on aircraft.
The FOCA processed a total of 12,751 incident reports in 2024. From the reports received, the FOCA categorises, analyses and identifies the key causes of the incidents for five areas of risk – aerodromes, air traffic management, flight operations, helicopter operations and aviation technology – and assesses them according to their degree of severity.
The safety culture of civil aviation builds on the experience of pilots, air traffic controllers and ground staff. The FOCA derives preventive measures from the safety-relevant incidents reported and draws up recommendations.
Collisions are the safety aspect that takes the highest priority. It is crucial to determine which services and technologies can increase safety in airspace. Together with the aviation industry, the FOCA is developing solutions in the Future Aviation Surveillance Services and Technologies (FASST-CH) project.
For more than ten years, the FOCA has also been running the general aviation safety campaign staysafe.aero. The target group: pilots and stakeholders in light aviation. It posts weekly about the latest safety-relevant topics on the campaign website and on social media.
