1.14.1   Definition of air traffic incidents

• Regulation (EU) Number 376/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
• Regulation (EU) Number 996/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
• Decree-law Number 318/99, of 11 August;
• Decree-law Number 218/2005, of 14 December;
• ICAO Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention - Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation;
• ICAO Annex 19 to the Chicago Convention - Safety Management;
• ICAO Doc. 4444 - Air Traffic Management

1. ACCIDENT:

A safety occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which, in the case of a manned aircraft, takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked, or in the case of unmanned aircraft, takes place between the time the aircraft is ready to move with the purpose of flight until such time it comes to rest at the end of the flight and the primary propulsion system is shut down, in which:

1. A person is fatally or seriously injured as a result of:
   1. being in the aircraft, or
   2. direct contact with any part of the aircraft, including parts which have become detached from the aircraft, or
   3. direct exposure to jet blast,

   except when the injuries are from natural causes, self inflicted or inflicted by other persons, or when the injuries are to stowaways hiding outside the areas normally available to the passengers and crew; or

2. The aircraft sustains damage or structural failure which adversely affects the structural strength, performance or flight characteristics of the aircraft, and would normally require major repair or replacement of the affected component, except for engine failure or damage, when the damage is limited to a single engine, (including its cowlings or accessories), to propellers, wing tips, antennas, probes, vanes, tires, brakes, wheels, fairings, panels, landing gear doors, windscreens, the aircraft skin (such as small dents or puncture holes) or minor damages to main rotor blades, tail rotor blades, landing gear, and those resulting from hail or bird strike, (including holes in the radome); or
3. The aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible.

2. SERIOUS INCIDENT

An incident involving circumstances indicating that there was a high probability of an accident and is associated with the operation of an aircraft, which in the case of a manned aircraft, takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked, or in the case of an unmanned aircraft, takes place between the time the aircraft is ready to move with the purpose of flight until such time it comes to rest at the end of the flight and the primary propulsion system is shut down.

List of Examples of Serious Incidents

The incidents listed below are typical examples of incidents that are likely to be serious incidents. The list is not exhaustive and only serves as a guidance to the definition of ‘serious incident’.

• Near collisions requiring an avoidance manoeuvre to avoid a collision or an unsafe situation or when an avoidance action would have been appropriate;
• Collisions not classified as accidents;
• Controlled flight into terrain only marginally avoided;
• Aborted take-off on a closed or engaged runway, on a taxiway (excluding authorized operations by helicopters) or unassigned runway;
• Take-off from a closed or engaged runway, from a taxiway (excluding authorized operations by helicopters) or unassigned runway;
• Landings or attempted landings on a closed or engaged runway on a taxiway (excluding authorized operations by helicopters) or unassigned runway;
• Gross failures to achieve predicted performance during take-off or initial climb.
• Fires and/or smoke in the cockpit, in the passenger compartment, in cargo compartments or engine fires, even though such fires were extinguished by the use of extinguishing agents.
• Events requiring the emergency use of oxygen by the flight crew.
• Aircraft structural failures or engine disintegrations, including uncontained turbine engine failures, not classified as an accident;
• Multiple malfunctions of one or more aircraft systems that seriously affect the operation of the aircraft.
• Flight crew incapacitation in flight.
• Fuel quantity level or distribution situations requiring the declaration of an emergency by the pilot, such as insufficient fuel, fuel exhaustion, fuel starvation, or inability to use all usable fuel on board;
• Runway incursions classified with severity A. The Manual on the Prevention of Runway Incursions (Doc. 9870) contains information on the severity classifications:
• Take-off or landing incidents. Incidents such as under-shooting, overrunning or running off the side of runways;
• System failures, weather phenomena, operations outside the approved flight envelope or other occurrences which caused or could have caused difficulties controlling the aircraft;
• Failures of more than one system in a redundancy system mandatory for flight guidance and navigation;
• The unintentional or, as an emergency measure, the intentional release of a slung load or any other load carried external to the aircraft.

3. INCIDENT:

A safety occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operation.

4. OCCURRENCE:

Means any safety-related event which endangers or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person and includes in particular an accident or serious incident;

1.14.2   Use of the “Air Traffic Incident Reporting Form”

Obligation to notify accidents, serious incidents, incidents and occurrences

Regulation (EU) Number 996/2010 of European Parliament and of the Council

• Any person involved who has the knowledge of the occurrence of an accident or serious incident shall notify without delay the competent safety investigation authority of the State of Occurrence thereof.

Decree-Law 318/99, of 11 August and Decree-law 218//2005 of 12 December

• In case of accident or serious incident involving civil aircraft is required to notify the GPIAAF and ANAC within 6 hours and within 48 hours in case of incident, according to the Decree-law 318/99 of 11 August.
• In case of occurrence involving civil aircraft is required to notified ANAC within 72 hours, according to Decree-law 218/2005 of 14th December.
• Occurrences shall be reported to ANAC by any person or body gaining knowledge in the exercise of their function, namely a) flight operations managers; b) any aircraft pilots-in-command or operator; c) persons responsible for operators’ flight safety offices; d) technical managers and staff of aircraft design, production and maintenance companies; e) aircraft maintenance certification staff; f) airport, aerodrome and heliport managers; g) air traffic controllers and air traffic control supervisors; h) persons responsible for bodies in charge of the installation, modification, maintenance, repair, flight-checking and inspection of radio aids installed on national territory; i) persons responsible for bodies carrying out activities related to the ground-handing of aircraft.

1.14.3   Reporting procedures

Reports shall be addressed to:

GPIAAF - Gabinete de Prevenção e Investigação de Acidentes com Aeronaves e de Acidentes Ferroviários
Unidade de Aviação Civil/Civil Aviation Unit

For contacts see GEN 1.1.8

And also:

ANAC - Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil

For further contacts see GEN 1.1.1

The Accident Reports must be addressed to GPIAAF and ANAC, within 6 hours after the occurrence. Incident Reports should be addressed to GPIAAF and ANAC within 48 hours after.

The Reports should be send in paper form to these addresses (also shown on the top of the “AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT/INCIDENT REPORT” form) or directly by internet using the electronic form available at:

The distribution of the on-line notification is made automatically to both entities.

The paper form is available at national AIS and ARO units at aerodromes, and also as an editable form in GPIAAF web site. Guidance on how to fill the form, if needed is also available at GPIAAF website.

1.14.4   Purpose of reporting and handling of the form

The purpose of the form “Aircraft Accident/Incident Report” (Notificação de Acidente/Incidente com Aeronaves) shown on next pages is to provide the national accident investigation authority, GPIAAF, with complete information on occurrences in order to determine their circumstances and probable causes, concerning the preservation of life and the avoidance of accidents and incidents in the future. It is not the purpose of the safety investigation to apportion blame or liability.

It also provides the same data to the national aeronautical authority, ANAC, with the objective of contributing to the improvement of air safety by ensuring that relevant information on safety is reported, collected, stored, protected and disseminated. The sole objective of occurrence reporting is the prevention of accidents and incidents and not to attribute blame or liability.