Muscat: There have been several fatal air accidents this year including the Jeju Air plane flying from Bangkok to South Korea with 181 people on board that crashed on landing on Sunday. All passengers, except two crew members, lost their lives in the accident.

Last week, a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines (Flight J2-8243) crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia.

While 38 people were killed 29 miraculously survived. Two passengers on the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan said that they heard at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.

Azerbaijan Airlines said it considered the crash was caused by what it termed "physical and technical external interference". It did not detail what that interference was. Azerbaijan is a popular destination for tourists from the GCC for visa-free travel access.

In August, the ATR-72-212A operated by Voepass Linhas Aereas took off from Cascavel, Brazil, for a passenger flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil. 58 passengers and 4 crewmembers were onboard.

In January, the A350-900 operated by JAL Japan Airlines took off from Sapporo, Japan with 367 passengers and 12 crewmembers onboard. The plane A350 landed at Tokyo airport in nighttime conditions and collided with Japanese Coast Guard aircraft on the runway upon touchdown. The nose landing gear collapsed and the A350 burst into flames. All passengers escaped and the plane burned down.

According to experts, notwithstanding fatal accidents in recent times, air travel is still seen as the safest mode of transportation compared to land transport where millions of people are killed every year.

A lot of time, as well as money, is invested in making air travel safe for all of us through well-described policies of the federal governments, international associations such as IATA and ICAO, case studies conducted by investigation teams, various international conventions, and the airlines or aircraft manufacturers themselves.

The International Air Travel Association (IATA) revealed during a recent interaction with the media that and the final investigation reports were published in 52 percent of 268 accidents reported between 2018-2023.

According to IATA, the failure to publish prompt and complete accident investigation reports deprives operators, equipment manufacturers, regulators, and other concerned stakeholders of critical information that could make flying even safer. All governments should follow international treaty obligations to publish timely and thorough accident reports.

Several reasons can be cited for the reluctance to make these reports public, which include the potential harm to the reputation and business of those involved in such accidents. There were 20 accidents in the first half of 24 years, which included three fatal mishaps, one fatality onboard, and seven on the ground. It may be noted there were 72 fatalities onboard in 2023, 158 in 2022, and 121 in 2022.

"As it is a practice, investigations are ordered immediately after a plane crash is reported in the media. But what about the findings from those investigations and the subsequent follow-up actions? This is where the issue lies because an average flier never gets to know the actual cause of an accident and has to board an aircraft with the belief that air travel is still the safest mode of transport," IATA said.

Under the Civil Aviation Law of the Sultanate of Oman, the authority (CAA) has laid down the system for the investigation of Aircraft accidents, the formation of committees, and the rules to be followed in investigating these accidents and incidents. The CAA will investigate aircraft accidents that occur in the Territory of the Sultanate of Oman and into accidents involving national civil aircraft over the high seas.

The investigation committee will submit its report on the accident, its causes, and circumstances, to the competent minister. The report shall include the regulatory and administrative aspects of the Operator and the aspects that affect the operations. Individuals or entities may obtain copies of the report upon payment of the specified remuneration, except in cases when the Civil Aviation Authority decides not to publish the report.

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