Aviation Occurrence and Its Classification
An aviation occurrence is an accident, serious incident or incident, as well as the failure of an aircraft and/or its system, the failure of systems and technical means used in air navigation service, or another unusual circumstance that affected or could have affected flight safety. An accident is an occurrence connected with the operation of an aircraft, which took place — in the case of a piloted aircraft — from the moment a person boarded with the purpose of flight until all persons left it, if: a person sustains fatal or serious bodily injury as a result of being in the aircraft, direct contact with any part of it, or the direct effect of jet exhaust; the aircraft is damaged or its structure breached so that strength or flight characteristics deteriorate or major repair becomes necessary; or the aircraft is lost without trace. An incident is an occurrence outside this definition which affects or could have affected safety.
Aircraft in Danger and Lost
These definitions acquire practical significance in connection with the claim as well: recognition as in danger and as lost create different factual pictures — in the first a threat existed but the aircraft survived; in the second the aircraft is lost and search is declared. In preparing the claim this difference is reflected in the documentary basis as well: in the first, a description of the aircraft's condition; in the second, the fact of lost radio contact and unknown location.
The confidentiality of the reporting system is also not merely a personal but a practical matter: protecting the reporter is necessary so that information flows freely — and it is precisely that information which creates the database on which prevention grows.
An aircraft is deemed in danger when it and the passengers on board are under a direct threat that the crew cannot avert; it is deemed lost if it was significantly damaged or completely destroyed during take-off, flight, landing or a crash, or if radio contact is lost and its location unknown. Search is declared for a lost aircraft and the passengers on it, for the purpose of rescue.