2020-2021 National Surveillance Inspection Summary

Background

Transport Canada’s Civil Aviation Branch does both planned and reactive surveillance inspections to assess whether companies are following Canadian regulations. This includes inspecting foreign air carriers that fly to and from Canada.

The branch uses a risk-based approach, and incorporates both quantitative and qualitative data to plan inspections.

Inspection Cycle

The branch continues to be in the middle of changing the way we conduct surveillance. In 2020-2021 we used an updated risk-based planning method but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adjustments to the annual plan were made.

To assess the impact the pandemic was having on the industry, we conducted a national inspection campaign. Results showed that many aviation companies reduced their operations, with 18.57% stopping activity entirely. Additionally, in order to reduce risk of exposure and spread of COVID-19, we limited onsite surveillance as much as possible, while still maintaining confidence in the safety of the aviation system. The overall reduction in activity and limiting of onsite presence are reflected in a decrease in the total number of surveillance activities from the previous year.

Surveillance includes all activities related to preparing, conducting, and reporting an inspection. It also includes any action taken to deal with issues found during an inspection, like reviews and follow-ups on corrective action plans, enforcement actions, or certificate actions.

In order to respond to the pandemic, we also began using remote technologies for surveillance. Remote technology was used to supplement onsite presence when possible.

The branch uses surveillance to inspect:

air operators
aerodromes
flight training units
approved maintenance organizations
manufacturers
multi-certificate holders
approved training organizations
air traffic services
weather service stations
design approval holders
design approval organizations
Ministerial delegates, and
aeronautical design products

Inspection activities, results and statistics for 2020-2021

Surveillance in the regions

This data was taken from the National Aviation Company Information System database (NACIS). It includes data from all regions except the National Operations, National Aircraft Certification and Medicine branch as their data is not available in NACIS. Not all aerodromes inspected are reflected in this data as the database does not have all data for this metric.

Total number of inspections: 352
Total number of companies inspected: 334
Total number of issues found: 365
Average number of issues found, per inspection: 1
Number of inspections that found issues: 153
Number of inspections that found no issues: 199

In addition to this work, we conducted a national inspection campaign in April 2020. During the campaign we assessed the impact of COVID-19 on Canadian aviation companies and looked for new risks. In total, we completed 2,660 of these inspections. Overall, the campaign didn’t find any significant change in risk across the country but did identify that 18.5% of companies had stopped operations.

Table 1: Surveillance for National Operations and National Aircraft Certification

Description of data	National Operations	National Aircraft Certification
Total number of inspections	109	3
Total number of companies inspected	Overall: 48 Canadian companies: 9 International Companies: 39	3
Total number of issues found	Overall: 42 On Canadian companies: 15 On International companies: 27	0
Average number of issues found per inspection	Overall: 0.385 Canadian companies: 0.145 International companies: 4.5	0
Number of inspections that found issues	Overall: 16 On Canadian Companies: 10 On International Companies: 6	0
Number of inspections that found no issues	Overall: 93 On Canadian companies: 93 On International companies: 0	3

Surveillance broken down into days

This data was taken from the National Aviation Company Information System database (NACIS). It includes data from all regions except National Operations and National Aircraft Certification. Not all aerodromes inspected are reflected in this data as the database didn’t have all data for this metric.

Average number of days from receipt of Corrective Action Plan (CAP) until CAP Acceptance Letter sent: 26 days
Maximum number of Days from Exit Meeting to Closing Letter sent: 41 days
Minimum number of Days from Exit Meeting to Closing Letter sent: 0 day
Average number of Days from Exit Meeting to Closing Letter sent: 75 days
Number of Surveillance events that have no record of closing letter date entered: 62 events
Number of findings that are from events that have not closing letter date: 158 findings
Percentage of Surveillance events that have no record of closing letter date entered: 18%

Days to close a Surveillance Event	Number of events
0 to 60 Days	193
61 to 120 Days	51
121 to 180 Days	17
181 to 240 Days	12
241 to 300 Days	7
301 to 360 Days	6
361 to 420 Days	5
421 to 480 Days	1
481 to 540 Days	0
541 to 600 Days	0
No Closure Letter	62

This data was taken from the National Aviation Company Information System database (NACIS). It includes data from all regions except National Operations and National Aircraft Certification.

Closing an inspection within one year is the Civil Aviation Branch’s policy. Exceeding this isn’t necessarily a negative outcome if the company is actively working with Transport Canada to solve the issue(s) found during the inspection.

Most common observations/finding (trends)

This table only includes issues that relate to a specific Canadian Aviation Regulation.

Canadian Aviation Regulation (CAR) reference number	Number of issues found
605 – Aircraft Requirements	64
571 – Aircraft Maintenance Requirements	46
302 – Airports	35
703 – Air Taxi Operations	34
573 – Approved Maintenance Organizations	29
406 – Flight Training Units	26
706 – Aircraft Maintenance Requirements for Air Operators	10
561 – Manufacture of Aeronautical Products	9
702 – Aerial Work	8
705 – Airline Operations	7
602 – Operating and Flight Rules	7
704 – Commuter Operations	6
604 – Private Operators	5
405 – Flight Training	4
700 – Commercial Air Services	4
305 – Heliports	3
107 – Safety Management System Requirements	1
202 – Aircraft Marking and Registration	1
404 – Medical Requirements	1

The data taken from the National Aviation Company Information System database (NACIS). It includes data from all regions except National Operations and National Aircraft Certification.

Conclusion

This was an unusual year for surveillance. Much of what we planned had to be adjusted, but this also forced us to innovate. The Civil Aviation Branch ran a unique inspection campaign in order to assess the safety risks created by COVID-19 and also began using remote technologies to complement regular surveillance.

The Civil Aviation Branch uses inspection data to determine the risk profiles of companies. This affects the frequency and scope of future inspections. While this is an important use of the data, there are still more ways that we could use this data.

Currently, surveillance data is stored in number of different, unconnected systems. This limits our ability to analyse and use this data to the fullest extent.

To improve this, the branch is migrating all surveillance inspection data into a single database. Having a more holistic view of inspection results will help us better analyze the data and keep the civil aviation sector safe.

Organizational contact information

Transport Canada welcomes your comments on this report.

Email: questions@tc.gc.ca

Language selection

WxT Language switcher