Question NW1119 to the Minister of Transport
04 October 2021 - NW1119
Lees, Mr RA to ask the Minister of Transport
(1)Whether the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has established an Independent Accident/Incident Investigation Board; if not, why not; if so, what are the details of the board including, but not exclusively, (a) details of the members of the board, (b) details of the payments made to each member of the board for each year of its existence and (c) details of all accidents and/or incidents that the board has investigated since it was established; (2) whether an annual budget was allocated for the operations of the board since its establishment; if not, why not; if so, (a) from which financial year has an annual budget for the board been allocated and (b) what are the details of the budget in each financial year since it was established; (3) whether the allocated budget was spent in each financial year; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details of the expenditure; (4) what are details of the person(s) and/or institution(s) that are conducting an investigation into the alleged Alpha Floor incident that occurred during an SA Airways flight on or about 24 February 2021?
Reply:
1. Section 10 of the Civil Aviation Act 13 of 2009, which was supposed to establish the Aviation Safety Investigation Board, as an independent entity for investigation of aircraft accidents and incidents is not in force. The Chapter dealing with aircraft accident and incident investigation is part of the Civil Aviation Bill which is currently before parliament. An independent aircraft accident and incident investigation board will, therefore, be established upon proclamation of the Bill.
2. The Board has not yet been established. The budget will be appropriated upon the approval of the Civil Aviation Bill.
3. There is no allocation for the Board as it does not exist.
4. The Accident and Incident Investigation Division of SACAA is conducting the investigation in an independent manner in line with the Ministerial Order issued by the then Minister of Transport. Upon conclusion of the investigation, the incident report will be made public.