Vietnam Aviation: Sudden increase in incidents threatening safety and security

According to a report by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (Ministry of Transport), the number of aviation safety and security violations in the first nine months of the year increased dramatically compared to the same period in 2013, but there were no serious incidents.

Authorities screen passengers' luggage before boarding the plane. Photo: VNA

Some passengers and people still deliberately illegally trespass into restricted areas in the airport, spread rumors about bombs and explosives; passengers carry weapons, support tools, dangerous items in violation of regulations, even cause trouble, threaten, and do not comply with the instructions of airline staff, which has "sounded" the alarm bell about the safety level of this means of transport considered to be quite safe and civilized.

According to statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, in the first nine months of 2014 there were a total of 210 flight safety incidents (an increase of nearly 60 incidents compared to 2013, an increase of 39% compared to the same period in 2013 and 19% compared to the same period in 2012).

However, the Civil Aviation Authority's report also acknowledged that the increase was mainly at levels E and D (incidents with safety risks); the number of incidents with high and serious safety risks (levels C and B) did not increase (7 incidents). A serious incident (level B incident) occurred in Melbourne (Australia) when an aircraft was taking off when an engine failure was detected. The Australian Accident Investigation Branch (ATSB) is conducting an investigation.

In addition to objective causes, the Civil Aviation Authority also analyzed the cause of incidents due to technical failures of aircraft, which remained high (103 incidents, accounting for 49% of the total number of incidents). The number of incidents involving flight crew members and ground service staff decreased by 22% compared to the same period in 2013 (21/27 incidents), which demonstrated progress in compliance with operational procedures and aircraft maintenance procedures compared to the same period in 2013.

“In particular, incidents caused by birds, dams, livestock and exotic animals on runways in the first nine months of the year increased sharply compared to the same period in 2013, showing that the work of checking apron safety, exploiting flight areas and controlling birds and wild animals is still not effective,” a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority acknowledged.

In addition, the Civil Aviation Authority also pointed out that the reason for the sharp increase in passengers not complying with aviation safety regulations (20 incidents compared to 4 incidents in the same period in 2013) also led to violations of flight safety.

Notably, system errors caused 2/4 serious incidents (the incident of transporting the wrong passenger to Cam Ranh on June 19 and the incident of issuing the wrong flight order at Da Nang International Airport on June 27, 2014), showing that quality control of service provision processes is still inadequate.

Admitting that the direct supervision of the Port Authority is still weak and lacks specialized human resources, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam also accepts responsibility for not being resolute in urging units to implement recommendations and requests; the application of sanctions in case of detecting errors is still limited; aviation incidents still occur due to errors of flight crews, technical staff, air traffic controllers, dispatchers, flight procedure staff, system errors; especially the propaganda and education of the law to passengers is still ineffective, leading to a sharp increase in cases of passengers not complying with aviation safety regulations.

Regarding aviation security, according to statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority, in the past nine months, there have been 226 aviation security violations nationwide (an increase of 104 cases compared to the same period in 2013), most of which were caused by the lack of awareness of passengers and citizens.

“Violations of aviation security have been detected and handled promptly. Coordination between aviation security and relevant agencies in preventing and combating national crimes via aviation has been improved, especially aviation security has detected and coordinated the detection of many cases of illegal drug trafficking through Vietnam’s airports,” said a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority also frankly pointed out the shortcomings and limitations of Vietnamese airlines in not implementing Vietnamese laws at foreign airports well; not establishing an independent security system for the airline. Some ward and commune authorities seriously violated regulations on personal identification.

“In addition, maintaining discipline and order at airports is not good and not deterrent enough. The direction and coordination of the Civil Aviation Authority and the Airport Authority in ensuring aviation security still has some limitations,” said a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority.

To minimize incidents related to aviation safety and security, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam will implement the Project on comprehensive innovation, improving the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of state management of civil aviation of the Civil Aviation Authority and Airports by 2020 after being approved by the Minister of Transport, and at the same time, increase propaganda for passengers about sanctions for violations to minimize and manage disruptive passengers; expand and improve the infrastructure of airports and airfields; improve the quality and supplement the training of aviation staff, especially air traffic controllers; strictly maintain special labor discipline for aviation staff...

According to Vietnam+