Page 6 - 2018-Issue2
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6 NEWS, NOTES & EVENTS
NEWS
IFATCA IFALPA JOINT PRESS RELEASE
International Organisations Warn Against
Premature Conclusions
The aviation community grieves for the tragic loss of lives aboard US-Bangla Flight 211 on 12 March 2018. Our thoughts
are with the families and friends of those lost, and the survivors who may still have a long road to recovery. We also wish
to extend our support to our Nepalese and Bangladeshi colleagues for whom this is undoubtedly a traumatic experience.
In order to learn from such an event and prevent any repetition, IFATCA and IFALPA, the International Organisations
representing Air Traffic Controllers and Air Line Pilots, stress the need for the technical investigation into the circumstances
of this accident to be conducted according to international Standards.
Such investigation should strictly follow the provisions laid out in Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil
Aviation, which states that “the sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of
accidents and incidents” and that “it is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability”.
Accident investigators should have unrestricted access and control over the evidence to ensure that a detailed
examination can take place. Whilst the investigation is ongoing, there should be no disclosure of the accident evidence such
as recordings, in order to avoid misinterpretation of the events that occurred.
Premature conclusions, often based on incomplete, inaccurate or speculative information, and focusing on any one
aspect of what happened, will only hamper the ability to learn from these tragic events. We urge the media, the public, and
the concerned stakeholders to respect the long-established procedures for analysing these events and let the accident
investigation run its course.
IFATCA and IFALPA will closely monitor the investigation to ensure that it is conducted in accordance with the
principles described above, and that all efforts are made to prevent the recurrence of such an event.
ISSUE 2 | 2018 InterPilot | The Safety and Technical Journal of IFALPA