You are a student pilot, fresh from a successful theory exam. You have a niggling concern that one of the flight school aircraft has a faulty seat mechanism. Sometimes it slides back involuntarily when the lugs don’t lock in fully.
You’ve mentioned it to your instructor who says you need to wiggle the seat to make sure it locks in as part of your pre-start checks. It seems a bit dangerous to you but without experience, you don’t have the confidence to be assertive. And you don’t want to rock the boat at the school; there may be consequences.
What do you do?
Aviation safety culture should make the answer to this dilemma clear, but of course it is not. This is where the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s (ATSB) confidential reporting scheme – REPCON – meets an important need.
ATSB safety reporting officer Neville Blyth says, ‘REPCON is a voluntary and confidential reporting scheme which operates alongside, but separate from, the mandatory reporting and investigation process. It allows any person who has an aviation safety concern to report it to the ATSB confidentially. Protection of the reporter’s identity and any individual referred to in the report is a primary element of the scheme.’
While fear of repercussions is one barrier that REPCON tries to eliminate, another is the question of who to report a safety issue to.
Let’s say you are flying into an airfield and notice an unmarked obstacle not far from final. While some may know who needs to be told, many do not. Is it Airservices? The aerodrome reporting officer (ARO)? The landowner? Even if the responsibility is clear-cut, such as the apron pavement failing, what happens if the ARO doesn’t respond to the voicemail you left? You don’t want to let it slide, because you almost had a prop strike.
Report with confidence
The ATSB’s remit is very broad. The T stands for ‘Transport’, and the REPCON system is just as important for marine and rail safety. But the voluntary REPCON system is not the only reporting mechanism; there are also mandatory reporting requirements for accidents and incidents.
The ATSB receives approximately 17,000 notifications annually and these are the starting point for new safety investigations. They are all entered into the aviation occurrence database.
Guidance on what and how to report is available in the Aeronautical Information Package (AIP), Enroute 1.14, Air Traffic Incidents, on the Airservices Australia website.
REPCON
Anyone can make a confidential report under REPCON, including members of the travelling public as well as anyone in the aviation industry.
Not everything is classed as reportable under this confidential scheme. If the safety concern relates to an imminent threat to someone’s life, criminal activity, industrial relations matters or terrorist acts, then confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Likewise, matters that fall under the mandatory reporting (‘Immediately reportable matters’ and ‘Routine reportable matters’) need to be reported separately.
Fear of repercussions is one barrier that REPCON tries to eliminate.
Matters that are appropriate for REPCON include:
- an incident or circumstance that affects or might affect the safety of aircraft operations
- a procedure, practice or condition that, if not corrected, would endanger the safety of operations, such as:
- poor training, behaviour or attitude
- insufficient qualifications or experience of employees or service providers
- scheduling or rostering that contributes to the employee fatigue
- the bypassing of safety procedures due to operational or commercial pressures
- inadequate airport facilities for safe operations
- unsafe passenger or cargo management
- inadequate traffic or weather information.
Although REPCON is confidential, it is not anonymous. Reporters must provide their name and contact details. In addition, REPCON staff make every effort to ensure that a report isn’t vexatious. Blyth emphasises that reports motivated by industrial disputes and personal grievances are not processed. ‘A number of reports are borderline vexatious – strained emotions and venting – but we like to keep things on a professional basis and decide whether to process each REPCON on a case-by-case basis, based on their safety merits,’ he says. Before being sent for comment or review, the report is de-identified and sent back to the reporter for authorisation and confirmation to proceed.
REPCON does not have an investigatory function. Once accepted and de-identified, the safety concern is forwarded to the named parties and CASA for consideration and response.
A case in point
In March 2025, a report suggesting insufficient taxiway and apron markings at a regional aerodrome was lodged via REPCON. The reporter noted the taxiway centreline markings were not visible when the taxiway passed through a large apron area, and there was confusion about the taxiway location. The safety concern was the risk of an aircraft colliding with another aircraft parked on the apron. The reporter suggested that markings be added to clearly delineate the apron and the taxiway.
The report was sent to the aerodrome operator and CASA for their responses. While stating they thought there was no safety concern, the operator did undertake to discuss it at a forthcoming CASA surveillance visit. Following that visit, the operator undertook to ATSB that they would find a solution. The ATSB sought a response from CASA, who identified there was indeed a safety concern, and that procedures and markings to separate taxiing aircraft from parked aircraft were required.
That’s outrageous!
Sometimes, the unsafe behaviour of another may call for an immediate report. Such behaviour can be reported directly to CASA on 1800 074 737, along with concerns about illegal aviation activities and unsafe drone use. You can choose to report anonymously.
If the aircraft operator is known, the behaviour should also be reported to them. Concerns at an aerodrome should be reported to the ARO whose contact details will be included in the ERSA.
CASA tracks and corrects any unsafe conditions by collecting DRS data.
Mandatory reporting
Two types of incidents must be reported to the ATSB: ‘Immediately reportable matters’ and ‘Routine reportable matters’.
Accidents and serious incidents are Immediately reportable matters and must be reported as soon as reasonably practical by phoning 1800 011 034 (24 hours), and subsequently followed up in writing, such as through the ATSB’s Occurrence notification form. Routine reportable matters, detailed in transport safety investigations regulations, must be reported in writing.
Close calls
Sometimes, the answer to a ‘Who do I tell’ question is, ‘other pilots’. The origin of many safety issues is a personal mistake or experience.
‘Close calls’ in Flight Safety Australia are cautionary tales from pilots about what went wrong, what they did and the advice they have for others. They are personal accounts of individual experiences and are not corroborated by CASA but are a very useful way of learning from other pilots. flightsafetyaustralia.com/closecalls
Mea culpa
The ATSB administers a voluntary self-reporting scheme provided for under the Civil Aviation Act. As the name implies, this scheme allows a pilot to report their own inadvertent safety breach, and generally speaking, the ATSB will not disclose the details of the self‑reporter. If the report is accepted and other requirements described in the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations are satisfied, the reporter may get protection from administrative action by CASA for the contravention.
There is a saying in aviation, ‘Learn from the mistakes of others … you won’t live long enough to make all of them yourself.’ Thinking about it, Flight Safety Australia is chock full of the mistakes of others. Similarly, one of REPCON’s strengths is the affirmation that despite the best of intentions, well‑trained and well‑meaning people still make mistakes.
Defects
Safety issues aren’t restricted to behaviours or incidents. In some cases, the risk could be a defect with an aircraft or with ground equipment. CASA has a Defect reporting service (DRS) web portal that can be used to report and view major defects with aircraft or an aircraft part. While the DRS is more likely to be used by maintenance engineers, it is important for pilots to be aware of the system. CASA tracks and corrects any unsafe conditions by collecting DRS data and reviewing it with the aim of maintaining and improving the level of flight safety. As with most safety reporting schemes, the objective is not to apportion blame.
Major defects, such as smoke in the cabin or problems with flight controls, must be reported. In fact, even if someone else has reported the defect you have found, you must still submit a report. CASA has produced an Advisory Circular with good explanations of the DRS, and some clear examples of ‘major defects’.
Complaints
There are some issues that don’t fall into any of the mandatory, voluntary or self-reporting schemes, and many of these are plain old-fashioned complaints. They might be about airline customer service, aircraft noise, drone operations, aviation security, military flying, or even about CASA itself. The Commonwealth Government operates an Aviation Complaints service for this purpose through aviationcomplaints.gov.au.
CASA’s one-stop shop
To bring the important pieces of information into one place, CASA has published a web page that is a one-stop shop for all your reporting options. Visit casa.gov.au/reporting.
On this page you will also find an A5 Aviation and incident reporting card which is available from the CASA online store free of charge. To help make reporting easy, you can also request safety reporting stickers from the store, also free. The sticker has a QR code that links directly to the directory of reporting options.
The objective of these resources is to encourage a positive reporting and safety culture. Because you won’t live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself. Or to recall another adage, ‘If you must make a mistake, make it a new one!’
See it, report it, prevent it.
Your report could prevent an accident.
Every report helps us identify risks early and improve safety across the industry.
Reports can be confidential and easy to submit.
Make a report at casa.gov.au/report.
Order your free reporting sticker from the CASA online store.
