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On March 6, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its preliminary transportation occurrence statistics for 2018. An initial review of the preliminary occurrence information highlights some noteworthy observations. In the spring, the TSB will release its complete and final statistical reports for 2018, including accident rates and a more thorough analysis of the data.
Air transportation
Air transportation data for 2018 show some encouraging trends. For example, the number of aviation accidents (201) that were reported to the TSB in 2018 was substantially lower than the five-year average of 249 (Figure 1). A strong drop in flight training accidents following a 2017 peak has brought commercial operator accidents to a total of 66 in 2018, compared to 97 last year and to the five-year average of 80.
There were 860 aviation incidents reported to the TSB in 2018. This number represents a substantial decrease compared to the previous year (939) but is still higher than the five-year average of 797. The TSB is reviewing the reported Risk of Collision and Loss of Separation incident data to uncover factors that could help explain why the number of these incidents remains persistently high.
