CAA SERVICE GOALS FOR 2005
In conjunction with government budget proceedings, parliament approved and the Council of State set out the following service and other operational objectives for the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA).
The aim of the CAA is to provide the airport and air navigation services needed by the aviation sector as efficiently and economically as possible whilst promoting safety.
The CAA manages the supply of services in accordance with profitable business practice at the airports that it maintains. The purpose is to ensure that the operating conditions at its airports and in Finnish air space are good and safe and that as few delays as possible occur through the CAA’s own actions.
The CAA’s airports and the Finnish air navigation system are maintained and developed as a single entity to meet the commercial demand for their services. The objective is to provide airport and air navigation services that are internationally competitive in terms of pricing and quality.
The Civil Aviation Administration’s profit target before book transfers is 19.1 million euros.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications set the CAA the objective of maintaining and developing, for its part, the security readiness of the aviation infrastructure and participating in developing crisis readiness for the aviation branch within the framework of the NATO partnership programme in a manner to be more closely agreed with the readiness unit of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. As far as this objective is concerned we can state that a CAA representative has participated in relevant conferences and reported on them to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport and Communications set separate operational objectives for the Flight Safety Authority division of the CAA for 2005. The Flight Safety Authority has submitted a separate report on these objectives to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
Safety of Airport and Air Navigation Services
More Active Reporting
In 2005, 924 occurrence reports were made within the
CAA concerning air navigation, of which 281 reports
were required by the authority and concerned aviation
as a whole. The average number was 77 occurrence
reports a month, varying between 42 and 109 a
month. The busiest month for reporting was June and
the quietest was December. The average number of
reports a month to the authorities was 23, ranging between
12 and 39 a month. The most reports were made
in September, the least in December.
The number of reports has risen from previous years. The increase over 2003 was 46 %, which indicates a favourable trend in reporting activity.
Focus on Runway Environment Safety
A total of 107 runway incidents were reported throughout
the year to the end of December, of which 77 were
runway incursions (RI) and 30 runway safety occurrences
(RSO). Although a significant proportion of
the runway safety threat cases were not the fault of
the CAA, the CAA is worried by the trend and has initiated
a number of measures to improve safety in the
runway environment, including more effective supervision
mechanisms and working practices.
• RI= Runway Incursion: any occurrence at an air port involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft,vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft (ICAO amendment 25th Nov. 2004).
• RSO = Runway Safety Occurrence: any other occurrence endangering the safety of a runway, such as the presence, for example, of an animal (fox, bird, deer) or object on the runway or within the fenced-off area (additional Finnish classification).
Factors Affecting Cases
In categorising cases we are using (among others) the
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) approved
model for describing human factors, known as
SHEL. The factors affecting irregularities during 2005,
as classified by the model, were as follows: (proportions
as percentages in brackets): aircraft action (35 %), technology
(26 %), communication and cooperation (21 %),
work practices and dissemination of flight information
(13 %) and individual action (5 %).
Human factor education has been significantly increased in the various air navigation training programmes. At the same time, research into the human factor has expanded and related national and international cooperation intensified.
Rapid advances in technology and increased pan- European requirements will pose an extensive challenge to the development of the working environment and working procedures in the next few years.