Incident / Accident Management
Safety first and foremost for MAAA members
The MAAA has created a 75-year legacy as Australia’s largest flying organisation, committed to providing the best and safest flying experience for our 10,000 plus members. Bringing together our members’ collective knowledge, we can effectively manage accidents and incidents for our members and clubs, helping to keep the skies safe and our pilot’s injury free so you can continue to enjoy the camaraderie, fun and thrills that the sport provides.
When an incident or accident occurs, the MAAA takes those affected under our wing, ensuring that our members get back to safe, fun flying sooner. This is achieved through managing any insurance claims on their behalf as well as providing assistance or corrective action when required. Open communication is always the key. If an accident or incident occurs, we speak directly with clubs and members to ensure that they are safe, they feel supported and that a resolution is reached quickly.
Unlike any other association, the MAAA conduct thorough investigations in order to ascertain what accidents or incidents are trending. We then seek to put corrective action in place, reducing the potential risks for all the MAAA community. Through this process, we are not only protecting the reputation and future of the sport loved by many, but by sharing the collective knowledge of incidents that occur in the flying community, makes the sport safer for all involved, reduces the number of accidents and improves the perception of the sport to the general public.
How does the MAAA help you?
The MAAA adopts a “just culture" when investigating accidents and incidents, so that our members can have open communication with us and not feel fearful in reporting an incident or be concerned about repercussions. The MAAA doesn’t blame members- our job is to keep you, the clubs and your planes safe. By receiving reports on incidents or accidents, no matter how insignificant you may feel it is - we can look at reoccurring trends and come up with a resolution that ensures the sport is safer now and into the future.
7 simple steps for managing an incident and accident
1. The Club (or Contest/Display Director of an event) should advise the MAAA Secretary immediately when an incident or accident has occurred. This can be done 24/7 via email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or via phone (0499 060 611) (leave a phone message after hours).
2. The Club (or Contest/Display Director of an event) has the option to obtain an MAAA Incident Report form and MAAA Incident Investigation form available from the MAAA website https://www.maaa.asn.au/club-support/forms. These forms should include witness statements, photos, plans, maps and any other relevant documentation considered necessary. Too much information is better than not enough.
3. Or the Club (or Contest/Display Director of an event) following investigation and identifying corrective actions to minimise the possibility of the accident/incident reoccurring should lodge both forms online, at the same time, via the Online Incident Reporting System available here (https://www.maaa.asn.au/club-support/incidents-accidents/incident-report-investigation-form). A club can also submit handwritten forms but both forms must be submitted at the same time to the MAAA Secretary (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
The club should complete a MAAA Incident Report form and MAAA Incident Investigation forms and send the completed forms to the MAAA Secretary. It is important that the Club (or Contest/Display Director of an event) includes recommended corrective actions in the appropriate section of the Investigation Report to assist the MAAA Executive in considering ‘close out’ of the incident.
4. The MAAA Secretary will send the Incident Report and the Investigation Report to the MAAA executive and the state associations receive a copy. Where there is a potential insurance claim, the MAAA secretary will also forward the reports to the insurance broker to advise the insurance company of an accident/incident and the potential of a claim.
5. The MAAA Executive will review at the next executive meeting all new Incident Reports and Investigation Reports and make a decision about closing the incident/accident.
6. The MAAA office communicates with the member and club about the decision and course of action that needs to be taken. Following the completion or closing of an accident, clubs are expected to implement and enforce the agreed effective risk management strategies to reduce the possibility of the accident reoccurring.
7. Once the incident is closed, a summary is than placed in a 12-month rotational table within the executive minutes which are circulated to all state associations.
