Senator O'Brien asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, upon notice, on 26 June 2002:

(1)Since January 2000, how many reports have been lodged with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) relating to air contamination in BAe 146 aircraft operated by National Jet Systems.

(2)In each case: (a) when was the report lodged; (b) who lodged the report; and (c) what action was taken by ATSB in response to each report.

Senator Ian Macdonald --The Minister for Transport and Regional Services has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1)Since January 2000, sixteen (16) reports have been lodged with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) relating to air contamination in BAe 146 aircraft operated by National Jet Systems. Three of those reports were lodged by way of the Confidential Aviation Incident Reporting System (CAIR) and referred to incidents that had already been reported in the conventional manner. Therefore, in effect, there were 13 reported incidents.

(2)Details are listed in the table below. The date of the occurrence is listed rather than the date when they were lodged. Generally, written notification would have been received at the ATSB within several days of the occurrence. The company submitted the majority of the reports by passing the pilot report to the ATSB. In two cases the pilot in command submitted a report to the ATSB before a report was received from the company. One incident, on 20 February 2000, was also reported by Air Traffic Services (ATS).