Threats to Aviation Safety Caused by Defects in Aircraft Airframe Systems

Alongside the increase in air traffic and number of aircraft, the number of reported aviation events has also been increasing. We processed the data included in the European Coordination Centre for Aviation Incident reporting Systems (ECCAIRS), analyzing small and large aircraft reliability and the safety of their operations, covering events according to ICAO aviation occurrence categories. Airframe systems are the largest contributor to the total number of reported events which occurred in Polish registered aircraft in the years 2008–2020. A detailed study of airframe systems reliability was carried out in order to assess the real reason for the failures. Airframe systems faults were assigned to specific ATA chapters and then to each of their sections. The results of this analysis may support the decisions of supervisory authorities in the areas where security threats are most important. They can also help aircraft operators with identification of the airframe units which require special attention. Identification of significant parts due to the frequency of malfunctions of particular system components may support designers. In short, these results are valuable in terms of further developments in statistical tools facilitating New Product Introduction (NPI).