Annual reports

I am very proud to have taken up the post of the BEA’s Director on 1st January this year.

Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to all of my predecessors, who, from Maurice Bellonte, who took up the post after the Second World War, to Rémi Jouty, dedicated themselves to building this wonderful institution and developing the strong international reputation it benefits from today.

I would also like to acknowledge the warm welcome extended to me by all BEA staff, the majority of whom are passionate about the work they do. They all take their work seriously and demonstrate exceptional human qualities. I have had the pleasure of meeting them and I very much look forward to working with them. Even though they are not employed by the BEA, I include the Field Investigators as BEA staff as they work regularly for the Bureau throughout metropolitan France and overseas territories.

2023 was recorded as the safest year for air transport globally as, despite activity marked by a strong recovery, there was only one fatal commercial aeroplane accident, that of an ATR 72 in Pokhara in Nepal on 15 January, in which 72 people were fatally injured. This accident mobilised the BEA, which immediately dispatched a team of investigators. The report of the investigation conducted by the Nepalese authorities was published on 28 December and is available on the BEA’s website.

The BEA exists to improve safety, so I am delighted to take over the reins in this context. Of course, investigation authorities are not the only organisations responsible for improving safety, but they play their part in their own way. To some extent, their mission is becoming increasingly difficult, in particular as far as air transport is concerned. We need to keep track, not only through accident investigations, but through investigations and analyses of more discrete events, of hazards that are becoming increasingly difficult to predict. This work involves identifying incidents from which safety lessons can be drawn, as well as conducting the associated investigations, which mobilise a greater number of the BEA’s resources.

In terms of general aviation activity in France, the statistics that the reader will discover in this report indicate that the number of fatal accidents and victims was largely the same as in previous years, even down slightly, for some types of activities.

In his opening message in the 2022 activity report, my predecessor shared his concerns and worries about the BEA’s capacity to pursue all of its activities in a context of declining staff numbers and growing air activity. Although the situation does not seem to have deteriorated in 2023, like him, I am keeping a watchful eye and I will most certainly address this further in subsequent issues.

Pierre-Yves Huerre,
BEA Director

Download BEA's 2023 Activity report: pdf standard defintion (9Mo) / pdf high resolution (20Mo)

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