Dutch ATC Provider Publishes Safety Performance Data

LVNL, the air navigation service provider (ANSP) of the Netherlands, declared that it is the world’s first ATC organization to “actively communicate” information about its safety performance to the public. The government provider started reporting incident data on its website on January 13.

“As an organization committed to transparency, LVNL has decided to take the responsibility to inform the general public of safety performance related matters as soon as possible,” the ANSP announced. “Publishing safety performance befits an organization that provides an essential public service,” it added.

As required by the Dutch Aviation Act, the information is “anonymized,” meaning that it does not identify individuals, company names or flight numbers, LVNL said. The most recent incident the agency listed on its website (www.lvnl.nl) occurred on December 12 and involved two aircraft—a Piper PA-46T Meridian and a Dassault Falcon 900—that breached airborne separation minimums in the approach zone to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. On November 8, an Embraer ERJ145 approaching Schiphol Airport from the south “failed to make the final turn on its approach to Runway 27 immediately when instructed to do so by air traffic control,” states another incident report. “The ERJ145’s delay in turning, combined with a strong southerly wind, caused a loss of separation” with a Boeing 777-200 approaching the same runway from the east. The Ansp reported both incidents to the Dutch Safety Board and is conducting its own investigations.

LVNL said it will publish data only on incidents related to its core responsibility of providing ATC services, and not on technical or operational issues related to aircraft or airports. It will first report such incidents to the Dutch Safety Board. Examples include the loss of minimum separation distance between aircraft; takeoffs or aborted takeoffs from runways that are out of use, engaged or not assigned by controllers; landings or aborted landings on such runways; and runway incursions with potential collisions. The Dutch Safety Board controls the dissemination of information following any accident that involves material damage, injury or casualties.

“To achieve and maintain a high level of safety, an organization needs to be willing and able to learn and improve. To earn the public’s trust, an organization like ours needs to be transparent about its safety performance. We’re taking that step today,” Paul Riemens, LVNL’s CEO, said in a statement accompanying the announcement.

“This step by LVNL to publish not only what happened, but also why it happened marks a major step forward and will bolster the trust of the general public in the self-learning capabilities of air navigation services providers,” said Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency.