Aviation: 2022 Annual Safety Report published

Bern, 14.03.2023 - The Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA) processed almost 12,000 occurence reports in 2022. These contribute to the ongoing improvement of safety on the ground and in the air. The most recent safety statistics have just been released and published in the 2022 Annual Safety Report.

The incident statistics for 2022 reveal more incidents reported in commercial and private aviation, more incidents with helicopters caused by cables and other obstacles, and few incidents with drones. The number of incidents reported has been increasing since 2019, mainly because of a better reporting culture, but also as a result of significantly more attempts to jam GPS signals to aircraft abroad since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

The types of incidents reported to the FOCA are diverse and include aircraft damaged during ground handling, near collisions between aircraft mid-air and on the taxiway, bird strikes and cyber attacks. In the 2022 reporting year, the FOCA received almost 12,000 occurence reports for a total of 8,052 incidents.

From the reports received, the FOCA categorises, analyses and identifies the key causes of the incidents for five areas of risk – aerodromes, flight operations, flight technology, air traffic control and helicopters – 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. For example, the highest priority is given to preventing airborne collisions.

The FOCA has also been running the Stay Safe safety campaign for the past eight years. It publishes new posts weekly on the latest safety-relevant topics on social media. In order to target and better reach recreational pilots as well as other players in general aviation, the FOCA's safety promotion working group behind the campaign has been reorganised.

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Media contacts:
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