Pilots' Willingness to Report Aviation Incidents

This paper reports results from a survey-based study among eighty-six airline pilots investigating their willingness to report safety-relevant events and incidents. Pilots have been asked to report how many events they have experienced in thirty-five different contextual areas and how often they have reported these cases. Thus, underreporting rates, respectively dark figures, were calculated and listed. These results and the willingness to report are discussed within an aviation operation’s background. Most of these surveyed underreporting rates are very high, which means a substantial source of uncertainty in airlines’ safety reporting databases, and thus for airlines’ safety management systems.     «

This paper reports results from a survey-based study among eighty-six airline pilots investigating their willingness to report safety-relevant events and incidents. Pilots have been asked to report how many events they have experienced in thirty-five different contextual areas and how often they have reported these cases. Thus, underreporting rates, respectively dark figures, were calculated and listed. These results and the willingness to report are discussed within an aviation operation’s back...     »