Checklist · Aviation, Drones & Space
Aviation occurrence reporting checklist and record (Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 and Regulations: immediately and routine reportable matters)
Record for an operator or its lawyer after an aviation accident or incident: operation category A to D, immediately reportable (phone as soon as practicable, written report in 72 hours) or routine reportable (written report in 72 hours), who reports, and legal steps.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth
- AI use
- Red Keep AI out of the decisive steps. A lawyer does the work.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use as soon as a client operator, aerodrome, maintenance organisation or drone operator tells you about an accident, serious incident or other safety occurrence. The reporting duty runs from when a responsible person has knowledge, so work through Part A at once. Rail and marine occurrences are reported through ONRSR and AMSA instead.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The lawyer and the operator’s safety manager decide what is reportable, who reports and what is said; AI may only organise the facts already gathered into the record and track times, and writes nothing that goes into a report, statement or advice.
AI may
- Organise the times, aircraft, crew and location details already gathered into Part A of the record, with sources
- Track the deadlines from the time of knowledge and flag when the 72-hour written report is due
- Index documents preserved after the occurrence (flight data, maintenance records, communications) for the lawyer
AI must not
- Must not classify the occurrence as immediately reportable, routine reportable or not reportable
- Must not draft the telephone notification, the written report, any statement to the ATSB or CASA, or any media or customer message
- Must not process crew statements, recordings or flight data outside an approved, access-controlled environment
The lawyer checks
- The operation category and the type of occurrence have been matched to the Regulations and the ATSB tables by the operator’s safety manager and the lawyer
- An immediately reportable matter has been telephoned to the ATSB as soon as reasonably practicable, and the written report is lodged within 72 hours
- The record shows which responsible person reported, or why others reasonably believed it had been reported
- Other duties have been considered: CASA reporting, insurers, contract and lease notices, workplace health and safety regulators, and evidence preservation
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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