Communication issues at uncontrolled airports has emerged as a trend in the latest Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) analysis.
In their report Emerging Trends in Australian Aviation Safety: July to December 2014, the ATSB shows that the rate of communication issues for low-capacity transport operations is above the five-year average.
Of the 23 incidents reported to the ATSB for the July-December 2014 period, two of them resulted in near collisions.
Sixteen of the incidents involved aircraft charter operations, and seven of them involved low-capacity Regular Public Transport aircraft.
"Most of the occurrences were outside controlled airspace, with only three occurrences occurring within controlled airspace," the report states.
"The majority (16) occurred in CTAF areas and related to pilots either transmitting on the incorrect frequency, or not monitoring/transmitting on the CTAF. Apart from the near collisions above, the other occurrences were low risk in their nature. The main pattern in the data relates to communication issues leading to aircraft separation occurrences in CTAF areas which have been the subject of multiple investigations, safety education activities and research by the ATSB over recent years."
The ATSB currently has CTAF operations on a Safety Watch list, and will start a review of CTAF operations late in 2016.
The complete ATSB report into emerging trends in aviation safety is available on the ATSB website.