Top Ten Tips: How to avoid an airspace infringement

FOCA SAND-2008-001

Cause

In 2007, there were 201 airspace infringements in Swiss airspace and in airspace controlled by Switzerland. Twenty-two of these infringements occurred in the CTR and TMAs of Zurich. In the controlled airspace around Geneva there were even 36 airspace infringements. However, it is the airspace around Bern airport that registered by far the most airspace infringements. In 2007, 64 airspace intrusions were reported in the CTR and TMAs of Bern. The remaining airspace infringements occurred among the remaining regional airports and airspace intrusions in airspace C or D over FL 100 / 130.

Eight of these airspace infringements led to an Airprox where the safety of correctly flying aircraft (in five cases, commercial aircraft) was jeopardised. In 34 incidents, FOCA rated the airspace infringement as "high risk".

Recommendation

Airspace infringements are one of the main risks in Swiss aviation. It was apparent from the FOCA's 2006 annual report that a large proportion of all reported incidents concerned airspace infringements.

The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) intends to draw the attention of market participants to the ongoing risk with a "Safety Awareness Campaign" in the form of posters. The Annex (PDF, 18 kB, 08.03.2013) of this document includes a list of ten important tips and recommendations, which, when consistently applied, can help prevent dangerous proximity to other aircraft in controlled airspace.

Further information

Contact

Federal Office of Civil Aviation

Safety Risk Management (SRM)
3003 Bern
Fax: +41 58 463 59 83

srm@bazl.admin.ch

Print contact

Avoid airspace infringement!
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