Why might U.K. law have an impact on the global aviation industry? The protection of safety information has been a key concern as the tendency toward litigation has increased over the years. Aviation safety in the United Kingdom took a significant step forward with two judgments handed down by the U.K.’s High Court1 in September 2016, and it is possible that the principles established by these judgments will be used to argue cases in other parts of the world.
The first case related to the tragic Hunter accident at the Shoreham air show in August 2015 in which 11 people lost their lives. As part of the separate police investigation into the accident, the chief constable of Sussex Police made an application to the High Court for disclosure of materials obtained during the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigation; this was the first such application made in England and Wales since the relevant aircraft accident investigation regulations came into force in…
