Mainland China and Macao SAR signed "Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Cooperation Arrangement” in Macao

The Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) signed "Aircraft Accident & Incident Investigation Cooperation Arrangement” on 4 June 2009 in Macao, in which the two parties will build up a long-term cooperative relationship on this aspect, enhance the professionalism of the investigators, meet regularly for the exchange of expertise and experiences as well as offer each other technical assistance and the use of facilities in the investigation relating to aviation safety .

The signing ceremony took place in the office of AACM. The signatories were the Director General of the Aviation Safety Office of CAAC, Mr. Wang Zhao Ming and the President of AACM, Mr. Simon Chan. In accordance with this Cooperation Arrangement, the two parties will exchange views on the making of laws and regulations and offer technical assistance to each other in aircraft accident & incident investigation; both parties will enhance cooperation on the exchanges of personnel; each party will offer to the other party the use of facilities, human resources and organization management deemed necessary for an investigation, if the circumstance is appropriate and resources allow; both parties will meet regularly for the exchange of experiences, skills and technical knowledge.

In order to carry out the above mentioned cooperation, AACM visited the Aviation Safety Office of CAAC last year in April in which the two parties discussed about the cooperation on this aspect between mainland China and Macao. The Aviation Safety Office of CAAC indicated a positive attitude and both sides worked on the drafting of the Cooperation Arrangement thereafter.

After the handover of Macao to China, our gaming industry has been developing rapidly. The demand of our air transport by the Asia Pacific Region has continued to rise. Our locally based airlines have endeavored to expand their aircraft fleet to cope with the development of our aviation industry, resulting in the continuous increase of aircraft movement in Macao. As Macao’s aviation does not have a long history and the operation scale is small compared to that of the neighbouring area, Macao has not accumulated much experience in aircraft accident and incident investigation. For this reason, AACM hopes that by establishing regional cooperation or by participating in international seminars or workshops on this subject, the Macao investigators will be able to enhance, develop or strengthen their expertise in the management of this field through exchange of experiences with other countries. In addition, an investigation usually involves high-priced specialized equipments for analyzing data. The cooperation with countries that are equipped with the relevant facilities will achieve the sharing of resources. This can avoid Macao from investing costly capital on facilities that will only be minimally used.

In addition to the cooperation with the Aviation Safety Office of CAAC, AACM signed a Declaration of Intent with the Investigation Bureau for Civil Aviation of France on similar cooperation in June 2008, in which both sides agree to cooperate with each other by offer assistance and the use of facilities, as well as facilitate the exchanges of personnel and technical training and so on, in aircraft accident and incident investigation.

The Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR signed "Aircraft Accident & Incident Investigation Cooperation Arrangement” on 4 June 2009 in Macao.