January 3
The OZ Medical Journal reports Queensland's emergency helicopter flight accident rate is well above average with 25 accidents per 100,000 flying hours
 
The QLD Emergency Services Department has defended the safety record of emergency helicopter flights
 
Previous News Desk Reports on QLD's Rescue helicopter accidents - start HERE

January 4
A 'phantom' cow has been blamed for an undercarriage collapse on a charted Boeing 737 landing at Banda Aceh airport in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province
 
Specialised heavy lifting equipment had to be flown in by helicopter from Singapore to remove the freighter that was holding up urgently needed supplies after the December 26 earthquake and subsequent tidal wave destroyed most of the inhabited coastal area

January 4
The OZ Civil Aviation Safety Authority has released a discussion paper on the feasibility of fitting tamper-resistant flight recorders to helicopters - cost is expected to be around $5000 each
 
The authority wants the recorders to be installed in around 650 mainly single-engine helicopters used for stock mustering and other aerial agricultural operations after a number of recent accidents were attributable to faulty maintenance records 

The News Desk's 2004 OZ fatal helicopter reports are HERE - HERE and HERE

January 5
The director of safety at Airclaims (UK) has reported that 2004 was the safest year on record for the airline industry - there were only 11 fatal accidents worldwide (excluding deliberate acts of sabotage)
 
"There has been no other time in the 60 years since World War II where the number of fatal accidents has reduced year on year for 4 consecutive years"
 
News Desk records indicate general aviation (light aircraft) here in OZ recorded a similar result for 2004 (helicopters and ultralights are excluded)