In 2018–19, CASA was responsible for a single portfolio outcome:

Maximise aviation safety through a regulatory regime, detailed technical material on safety standards, comprehensive aviation industry oversight, risk analysis, industry consultation, education and training.

The outcome was set out in the 2018–19 Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities Portfolio Budget Statements.

CASA’s results in achieving its outcome are measured through three performance indicators:

• Number of accidents per hours flown is reduced, by industry sector
• Number of incidents per hours flown is reduced, by industry sector
• Clear, open and transparent engagement with the industry to support the continuous improvement of an efficient and effective aviation safety regulatory framework.

Reduced accidents and incidents

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate trends in accidents and incidents per hours flown, by industry sector. Care should be taken in interpreting the sector trends, given the necessary assumptions made in calculating the results.

Over the timeframe analysed (2010 to 2019):

• The accident rates suggest a decreasing trend for the air transport and aerial work sectors. The general aviation and flying training sectors appear to have a relatively stabilised trend.
• The incident rate trend for the aerial work sector appears to be relatively stable. The trends across the air transport and general aviation sectors appear to be slightly increasing, but this could be a consequence of a better reporting culture, which is a positive result. Incident rates for the flying training sector indicated an increasing trend overall; however, this appears to have stabilised since 2015.

Figure 7 Industry sector - accident rate trends

Industry Sector accident rate trends

_{Note: The accident rate information was formulated on a calendar year basis. This is due to flying hours being collected by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) on a calendar year basis through an annual survey. An estimate and pro-rata on flying hours from historical years was applied to the 2019 calendar year given the financial year reporting requirements.}

_{The quality assured occurrence information used in the accident rate calculations was extracted on 2 August 2019, at which date all accidents had been processed up to the required 30 June 2019 timeframe.}

_{One standard deviation movement from the average (+/-) has been illustrated on each of the sector trends. This has been applied as a guide to check for any statistically significant movements.}

_{Sources: Australian Transport Safety Bureau Air Safety Incident Reports and BITRE published flying hours.}

Figure 8 Industry sector - incident rate trends

Figure 8

_{Note: The incident rate information was formulated on a calendar year basis. This is due to flying hours being collected by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) on a calendar year basis through an annual survey. An estimate and pro-rata on flying hours from historical years was applied to the 2019 calendar year given the financial year reporting requirements.}

_{The quality assured occurrence information used in the incident rate calculations was extracted on 2 August 2019. At that date, 50 incidents were still required to go through the quality assurance process. Those incidents were determined to not make a material difference to the illustrated trends.}

_{One standard deviation movement from the average (+/-) has been illustrated on each of the sector trends. This has been applied as a guide to check for any statistically significant movements.}

_{Sources: Australian Transport Safety Bureau Air Safety Incident Reports and BITRE published flying hours}

Effective engagement with industry

The Aviation Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), which was established in 2017 by the Director of Aviation Safety, has continued to mature into CASA’s primary, high-level engagement mechanism. During 2018–19, the ASAP established 19 technical working groups to provide expert technical advice on a range of matters, including fatigue rules, dangerous goods, remotely piloted aircraft systems, airworthiness, and the flight operations suite of regulations. This has allowed CASA to establish regulations which are fit for purpose and supported by industry. The ASAP has predominantly industry membership and Honorary Professor Patrick Murray, University of Southern Queensland, is the ASAP’s independent Chair.

CASA continued to develop its capability and capacity to consult with industry through the CASA Consultation Hub. This web-based platform, accessed via the CASA home page, provided an accessible means for industry and the general public to formally respond to 37 external consultations conducted during the year. Encouragingly, almost 8,000 responses to the consultations were submitted.

The Government’s response to the 2014 Aviation Safety Regulation Review identified a need for CASA to improve its service delivery and relationship with industry, including

by conducting regular surveys to measure the health of its relationship with stakeholders.

CASA released the results from its 2018 Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey in October 2018. The survey was conducted by research organisation Colmar Brunton between April and May 2018 and examined attitudes towards CASA and aviation safety regulation. A random selection of 11,000 stakeholders across all major stakeholder groups were invited to participate.

The results demonstrated a steady improvement in the overall level of satisfaction with CASA’s performance, increasing from 4.2 out of 10 in the 2015 survey to 6.2 in 2018.

Those stakeholders who were ‘satisfied or very satisfied’ with the relationship with CASA increased from 25 per cent in 2015 to 53 per cent in 2018. Additionally, those who were ‘dissatisfied or very dissatisfied’ decreased from 46 per cent in 2015 to 20 per cent in 2018.

Satisfaction with our service delivery rose to a rating of 6.2 compared to 3.8 in the previous survey; satisfaction with audits and compliance rose to 6.3 from 4.8; and satisfaction with development of regulations rose to 5.5 from 3.0.

All key ratings rose in the 2018 survey, including ease of complying with regulations, which is now rated at 5.9, and CASA seeking to promote safety best practice, which is rated at 6.7.

Responses from more than 1,100 aviation industry participants gave the highest ratings to CASA for respecting confidentiality, having safety as its primary focus and sharing information and knowledge willingly. High ratings were also given for having competent and capable staff and being efficient in dealings with the people who were surveyed.

The survey findings show a clear pattern of improvement across all aspects of CASA’s relationship with industry since 2015.

The organisation-wide Service Delivery Transformation program is well underway in its work to transform several services and to deliver services that are client centred.