Air Transport Safety Bureau reports spike in serious incidents in Australia

A SPIKE in serious aircraft incidents in Australia saw than 1600 fatalities in 2012 - with birds, bats and a bull among the victims.

Bats, rabbits, kangaroos and birds were killed in more than 1600 "strike" incidents in 2012.

AUSTRALIA witnessed a spike in the number of serious incidents involving commercial aircraft using the country's airspace in 2012, the Air Transport Safety Bureau says.

A report by the national transport safety investigator found there were a total of 40 serious incidents involving commercial aircraft - those involved in public transportation or charter services - in 2012, up from 26 the year before.

It said the increase was driven by the growth of incidents involving aircraft doing charter work.

"The number of serious incidents reported in 2012 was the highest since 2003, and there was a slight increase in those accidents where fatal or serious injuries occurred," investigators said.

This was part of a total of 107 accidents, 195 serious incidents, and over 7300 incidents involving Australian aircraft during the year, and a further 570 incidents involving overseas aircraft using Australian airspace.

Overall, 41 people died in aircraft accidents in Australia last year, with the highest number of fatalities - 22 - taking place in private and business operations.

Most common safety incidents involved failing to comply with information or air-traffic control instructions, along with systems or airframe issues.

Encounters with animals were also an issue, with bats, rabbits, kangaroos and an increasing number of birds killed in more than 1600 "strike" incidents as a result of higher air traffic volume around the country.

Most accidents or serious incidents were the result of reduced aircraft separation - aircraft coming too close to each other - and engine malfunctions.

These included an incident near Tindal in the Northern Territory where a Boeing 737-800 travelling from Sydney to Darwin and an Airbus A330 travelling from Melbourne to Shanghai came within 3.5 nautical miles of each other, and another incident where the wings of two Boeing 737's taxiing at Melbourne Airport almost collided.

While the majority of incidents involved commercial aircraft, general aviation - such as aircraft conducting flying training or aerial work - accounted for 38 per cent of reported occurrences.

The figures were part of a 10-year review of accidents and incidents by the ATSB.

Overall, it found that aerial agriculture had experienced the most accidents and fatal accidents per hour flown over the decade, followed by private and business operations.

Aerial survey and aerial mustering had the next highest accident and fatal accident rates.

"In contrast, commercial aerial work operations recorded the lowest number of accidents in the past 10 years," the ATSB report said.

"In most operation types, helicopters had a higher rate of accidents and fatal accidents than aeroplanes."

The report comes just over a month after two Qantas Airbus A330 aircraft were involved in a near-miss over South Australia in September.

An ATSB report revealed that the traffic collision avoidance system on one of the aircraft was not working.

Animals involved in incidents a kangaroo hit by a plane landing at Coonabarabran airport in northern NSW and a bull killed near Rockhampton when it was hit by a sightseeing aircraft, which hit a bird and speared off a runway and into a paddock. In September, a gyrocopter hit a wallaby during takeoff in Townsville, sending the aircraft into a nearby fence and causing significant damage.

The ATSB believes wildlife strikes are under-reported and is encouraging aircraft operators to forward details of any incidents.

WILDLIFE HIT BY AIRCRAFT, by species

Plover - 65 separate incidents

Bat - 53

Galah - 62

Kite - 27

Kestrel - 41

Hawk - 35

Black Kite - 23

Swallow - 23

Nankeen kestrel - 36

Flying fox - 21

Magpie - 38

(In about half of reported bird strikes, the species was not identified.)

- With AAP