The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) advises member nations to waste no time before ordering the public dissemination of critical information identified in the course of the investigation of an aircraft accident or incident.
ICAO’s succinct instructions on handling accident information are included in Annex 13, Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation, which says that, “when matters directly affecting safety are involved, it shall be sent as soon as the information is available and by the most suitable and quickest means available.”
Preliminary accident reports “shall be sent by facsimile, email or airmail within 30 days,” ICAO says, and final reports should be issued “in the shortest possible time, and if possible, within 12 months of the date of the occurrence.”
But while some investigative bodies are quick to disseminate critical accident information, their speed does not always match that of modern media — cable news, the intern…
