Let’s retrace the twenty years since ANSV was founded, also taking a look at the current situation.

The first ANSV bodies took up office on 29 November 1999, inside the temporary premises provided by the Italian Ministry of Transport and Navigation. On that occasion, the operating conditions were laid down for the birth of ANSV, a completely new organisation for our country, because it was to be a permanent and independent authority in a totally neutral position with respect to the civil aviation system. In line with the requirements laid down by international and EU regulations, its main task would be to conduct safety investigations (at that time defined as technical inquiries). The four priority objectives established during that meeting were the following: providing ANSV with its own headquarters; starting the recruitment procedures for the administrative and investigative personnel; acquiring technological laboratories for downloading and decoding data from flight recorders (FDR and CVR); establishing a protocol of understanding with the Italian Ministry of Justice for the management of relations between safety investigations and criminal investigations. All these objectives were accomplished. I would like to emphasise that when ANSV was established, it had no headquarters, no personnel, no equipment and no internal regulations or operating procedures... in short, it had nothing at all. Everything was made from scratch, looking mainly at how other foreign investigation authorities were organised. Unfortunately, the creation of ANSV also coincided with the entry into force of the first measures on the containment of public spending, which penalised it heavily and prevented it from completing its own workforces: a critical situation regarding staffing that still exists. It was not easy in the early years, to assert the existence of ANSV and get it accepted in the national aviation world, precisely because it was a whole new reality and was viewed with suspicion, especially in relation to the specific nature of its institutional mandate. Twenty years later, ANSV is now an accredited operational reality, not only at a national level but also internationally. It was no coincidence that it was recently listed in “Category 1” of EU investigation authorities, together with the investigation authorities of France, Germany, the United Kingdom (now out of the EU), and Spain. The above Category 1 includes the most efficient EU investigation authorities, i.e. those that are in a position to help the others.  

Let’s talk about the technological laboratories of ANSV, which are its showpiece.

When ANSV was established, there were no technological laboratories in Italy for downloading and decoding data from flight recorders (FDR and CVR): if there was a need, we had to seek support, primarily, from the laboratories of foreign investigation authorities. Today ANSV has its own laboratories, which provide the Entity with support in its investigations by carrying out various activities. They are state-of-the-art laboratories, capable of extracting data from the latest-generation flight recorders. The laboratories also provide support to foreign investigation authorities corresponding to ANSV, when they ask for assistance with their investigations.

Air Accidents: safety investigations and criminal investigations. What has changed over the twenty years?

Until 2010, before the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 996/2010, ANSV had considerable trouble: the legislation in force at the time penalised the smooth conduct of safety investigations, placing them second in priority to criminal investigations. In short, safety investigations were squeezed out by criminal investigations. Regulation (EU) 996/2010 radically changed the scenario, giving equal importance to prevention requirements (safety investigations) as to judicial requirements (criminal investigations). The rules contained in the aforesaid Regulation (EU) incisively strengthened the powers of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities (in Italy, ANSV), defining the procedures for coordination between the two investigations so as to avoid reciprocal penalisation and interference. In implementing the Regulation (EU) 996/2010, ANSV signed identical agreements with all the Public Prosecutors’ Offices in Italy, for a total of 140 agreements. At EU level, ANSV is considered one of the investigation authorities with the most experience in dealing with judicial authorities: for this reason, upon request from ENCASIA (European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities ), ANSV will this year host a major accident simulation exercise, which will focus precisely on the coordination and management of relations between the civil aviation safety investigation authority and the judicial authority. All of the EU investigation authorities will take part in this exercise.  

We noticed that on the ANSV institutional website, there is a section called “Spontaneous reporting system.” Would you like to remind us of its contents?

Of course. Following the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 376/2014, ANSV updated its policy governing the treatment of spontaneous reports, making it available in full in the aforementioned section of its website, in order to encourage the reporting and collection of the highest possible number of spontaneous reports. In the relevant website container, users can also find available forms that can be used to make these kinds of reports.

The Regulation lists the parties who can make this kind of report and illustrates in detail the procedures to be used in doing so. It also indicates how the personal data is protected of those who make reports and the procedures adopted for the receipt, processing and maintenance of their anonymity.