Occurrence And Accident Reporting
All aircraft accidents and serious incidents occurring in Bermuda or involving a Bermuda registered aircraft should be reported to both:
- The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) on +44 1252 512299 (24 Hours) and investigations@aaib.gov.uk
- The Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) occurrences@bcaa.bm
Occurrence Reporting
There is an obligation under the AN(OT)O to report hazardous or potentially hazardous incidents and defects often referred to as occurrences to BCAA. Regulations describe those occurrences which are mandatory to report and BCAA has established a Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR) form. ICAO Annex 19 also requires BCAA to provide a voluntary incident reporting scheme. Voluntary reports are open to all who want to report any occurrence or hazards that do not fall under this MOR Scheme; these reports, however, follow the same reporting process. All occurrence reports should be submitted to occurrences@bcaa.bm.
Mandatory Reporting
The objectives of occurrence reporting and the formal definition of a reportable occurrence are contained in OTAR Part 13 found here. The occurrence reporting scheme is an essential part of the safety monitoring function; it is complementary to the normal day to day procedures and ‘control’ systems (e.g. AOC, company Approvals, etc.) and is not intended to duplicate or supersede them. The occurrence reporting scheme aims to identify those occurrences where the routine control procedures have failed.
Voluntary reporting
Voluntary reporting is open to all to report any occurrence or hazard. Any report that does not meet the criteria of a reportable occurrence is classified as a voluntary report. However, any such voluntary report follows the same method of reporting and process as a reportable occurrence.
All reports are confidential and shall be forwarded to occurrences@bcaa.bm. The reporter will be contacted to acknowledge receipt, discuss implications and obtain further information as appropriate. A course of action will be mutually agreed.
The report will be processed as an occurrence but annotated as CONFIDENTIAL and distributed reports will be de-identified. Reporters submitting a confidential report must accept that effective investigation may be inhibited, although it is preferable to have a confidential report than no report at all.
Accident Reporting and Investigation
In Bermuda, the Governor has made Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations under Section 75 to the Civil Aviation Act 1982, as extended to the Overseas Territories by an Order in Council. These Regulations are applied in Bermuda in order to implement and give effect to the Standards and Recommended Practices contained in Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation 1944 (the Chicago Convention). The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is the accident investigation authority for Bermuda for the purpose of carrying out investigations into accidents and serious incidents to which these Regulations apply.
The Accident Investigation Regulations can be found here.
Additional guidance on Accident Investigation in the Overseas Territories can be found here.