Air Force welcomes ATSB Report

Air Force welcomes today’s release of the Air Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report into a Loss of Separation (LOS) between two aircraft at Darwin in 2012.

Air Force is committed to maintaining a safe air traffic control service in military airspace and believes that cooperation with civil safety agencies ensures a high level of transparency when conducting air safety investigations.

Today’s report made two recommendations regarding Air Force’s training system and acknowledged Air Force had already commenced implementing training and assessment procedures to address these recommendations.

The report also detailed three safety issues that Defence has addressed to ATSB’s satisfaction ahead of the release of this report.

Air Force will continue to work with the ATSB to address the report recommendations.

Air Force and civil air traffic controllers have common qualifications and apply the same standards and procedures. In addition, Air Force controllers can provide airspace management in contested environments during times of conflict and during humanitarian and disaster relief operations.

On 2 October 2012, a loss of separation occurred in RAAF Base Darwin air space between two Qantas Group aircraft. The aircraft passed within 900 feet of each other, where a 1000 feet separation standard was required.

Information about Air Force’s comprehensive compliance regime for air traffic control is available at: http://www.airforce.gov.au/Technology/Surveillance44-Command-and-Control/Air-Traffic-Control/?RAAF-blu2rBFntyG7GeWmnAyZojF43ZGgLSB4.

Media contact:
Defence Media Operations (02) 6127 1999