A PILOT group responsible for aviation safety inspections said yesterday budget cuts have weakened government oversight, and triggered a spike in airline accidents and near misses last year, after years of improving flight safety.

According to preliminary figures from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), the number of aircraft accidents rose to 239 last year, up from 230 in 2016.

Commercial aviation had a particularly dangerous year, with 94 accidents reported, compared with 63 the previous year.

This included a December crash in northern Saskatchewan province that was the first fatal accident involving a Canadian airliner since 2011.

Total aviation incidents, meanwhile, rose to 921, “which represents a significant increase compared with the previous year (833) and the five-year average (737)”, said the TSB.

“The data, especially (on) the sharp increase in incidents, tells me a major accident is coming,” warned Greg McConnell, chairman of the Canadian Federal Pilots Association.

He highlighted two recent near misses involving Air Canada jetliners: one in which a pilot mistakenly lined up to land on a taxiway and barely missed clipping four other planes packed with passengers and fuel, and another in which only a terrain avoidance warning system prevented a jetliner from slamming into a mountainside on approach to Huatulco, Mexico.

The pilots association represents some 450 government pilots responsible for aviation inspections, pilot flight testing, licensing, certification, developing operating standards and investigating accidents.

It said Transport Canada’s “systematic dismantling of aviation safety oversight has accelerated in recent years due to budget shortfalls”.

“Most recently, the safety regulator handed off checking the skills and competencies of commercial pilots to the airlines.”

Transport Canada was not immediately available for comment.

According to the TSB report, the number of railway accidents and pipeline leaks were also up last year, but marine accidents were down. – AFP, February 21, 2018.