ICAO expects airlines to adopt the 15-minute global flight reporting standard by November 2016, according to secretary-general Raymond Benjamin. Starting April 2, ICAO will also make available an interim web portal that provides information on conflict zones. The measures are in response to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 a year ago, and the missile shootdown of MH17 four months later.
Benjamin was speaking at the ASEAN Aviation Summit in Langkawi, Malaysia, co-organized by the Malaysian Ministry of Transport and Department of Civil Aviation, to coincide with last week's LIMA 2015 show. “Despite a one in a hundred million chance of [what happened to] MH370 happening again, we must react rapidly when public trust is involved,” he told delegates, who included many regional airline and government officials who were involved in the aftermath of last year’s tragic events. Two weeks before the summit, Malaysia marked the anniversary of the MH370 disappearance with a series of solemn commemorative events.
The two measures are initial steps in the development of a Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS), that was endorsed by ICAO’s High-Level Safety Conference attended by more than 120 member states early last month. Beginning in 2021, new airliners entering service will be required to report every minute, when they are “in distress or under abnormal flight conditions,” he added. “These proposals are performance-based, so that airlines can choose themselves the technology by which they implement them,” he added. A trial of the 15-minute reporting rule will take place in the Asia-Pacific region this summer. Benjamin expects 12 airlines to participate, along with Arinc, Inmarsat and Sita “and other communications providers that are already coming forward with tracking solution packages.” The GADSS also includes recommendations for search-and-rescue procedures and the retrieval of flight recordings. Cockpit voice recorders should have a 25-hour capacity.
The interim web portal providing risk information on conflict zones will be accessible via ICAO’s public website “for visitors with appropriate access clearance,” Benjamin explained.
