§ THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY asked His Majesty's Government whether they will consider the desirability of affording a greater degree of publicity to the results of the investigations carried out on behalf of the Secretary of State for Air into accidents to aircraft engaged in public transport. The noble Marquess said: My Lords, I desire to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Paper. I am sure that your Lordships and the noble Lord who is to reply will realise that there is no suggestion of censure in any remarks I shall venture to make. The object I have in mind in asking the Secretary of State for Air this Question is to find out whether he would consider it possible to give greater publicity to the results of the investigations carried out on his behalf into accidents to aircraft which are now engaged in public transport. With that object I would suggest to him that he might arrange that the conclusions of the Inspector of Accidents should be automatically published in the case of all accidents in this country to British aircraft plying for hire or reward when such accidents involve loss of life or serious injury.
§ Your Lordships are aware that publications of this kind have been rare in the past. Naturally, I am not suggesting that there has been any desire on the part of the Air Ministry to hide from the public the causes which have led to these regrettable incidents. I have had much too long an experience in the Air Ministry myself—and I have had the privilege of being very closely connected with the Air Ministry all these years—not to know that the last thing they would wish from their own point of view is to keep from the public any details of matters which it is only right that the 292 public should know. The publication of the inspector's conclusions on accidents would mean a departure in degree from what has been done in the Air Ministry up till now, but it is one which I am inclined to think the Secretary of State would be glad to make. The report of the Inspector of Accidents has only been issued up to now in connection with accidents which have resulted in loss of life or serious injury. I am inclined to think it might be in the public interest, if it were possible, that his report should be issued on more occasions than in the past. It, has been the custom until now for the inspector's conclusions to be communicated, on request, to those parties who were interested in the accident, and I know that has been a source of considerable satisfaction to a great number of those who have been unfortunate enough to be connected with the various lamentable accidents which have taken place.
§ I am not really asking the noble Lord to publish these reports on all the civil accidents. I can hardly think that publication of that kind would serve any useful purpose. It would perhaps imply that all the information which might be forthcoming was not forthcoming, and so it seems to me that the Secretary of State could very advantageously use his own discretion in regard to these matters. Whenever one of those unfortunate occurrences takes place which attracts the public attention in a greater degree perhaps than some other accident, there is always a demand for a public inquiry, and I am inclined to think that perhaps the noble Lord can make some useful remarks in that connection. Speaking for myself, I should be very seldom in favour of a public inquiry being held, and at the present moment that jurisdiction is left, rightly, at the discretion of the Secretary of State for Air. Your Lordships are well aware that a public inquiry means the expenditure of a great deal of time, and it also costs a good deal of money, and I am not sure that in circumstances of that description, which involve great and wide technical examination, a public inquiry is the best tribunal for giving an authoritative decision on the case which is before them. Sometimes the reasons for these accidents are so obvious that a public inquiry is unnecessary, or the accidents are due to some 293 technicality which naturally the tribunal of a public inquiry is not in an advantageous position to enquire into.
§ I think the noble Lord will be able on this occasion—at least I hope so—to give us some figures in relation to the progress of civil aviation. We have, unfortunately, seen in the newspapers on several occasions the occurrence of lamentable accidents, but I feel that when we consider the extent of civil aviation the record is one of which we have every reason to be proud. I would go further and say that the record of this country is one which compares very favourably with the record of any other country in the world. That is due to the progress which has been made in civil aviation, and, if I may say so, is due to a succession of admirable administrators at the Air Ministry. It is not my intention to detain your Lordships long this afternoon. The question of publicity in respect of accidents is one which at different times, and in different degrees, has exercised the mind of the public, and I know that the noble Lord who will reply is of the same opinion as myself, that a certain amount of good can be done to the public by telling them exactly on what line publication is made of these accidents, and of the degree of information which he is only too anxious to give to the public. Your Lordships will realise that in addressing you to-day I am only talking of civil aviation. I am not bringing the other side of aviation into the question at all. That is a totally different matter, and one which requires different handling. I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AIR (LORD AMULREE)My Lords, I wish to thank the noble Marquess for putting this Question, and for affording me the opportunity of making a statement regarding the attitude of the Ministry of Air in respect to accidents in civil aviation generally, and more particularly with regard to investigations which take place in reference to those accidents. I agree, if I may say so, with the noble Marquess as to the very great importance of this question, more particularly as it affects the general public, and also as it affects those concerned in the industry of aviation, and those directly concerned in transport.
294 Before dealing with the specific Question put to me by the noble Marquess, perhaps I might explain very shortly the conditions under which these investigations take place, and also the method in which they are carried out. The investigation of accidents to or in connection with civil aircraft is held under the Air Navigation (Investigations of Accidents) Order, 1922. The accidents referred to include death or personal injury to any person, and serious structural damage to the aircraft, caused or contributed to by the failure in the air of any part of the aircraft. These are the subjects as to which investigation has to be made. The object of the investigation is to ascertain the cause of the accident. When such an accident occurs a person appointed by the Secretary of State, called an Inspector of Accidents, holds a preliminary investigation. The Order gives the inspector certain powers to obtain information from owners and hirers of the aircraft and their employees; to require the production of books and papers, and to have access to the aircraft. On concluding his investigation it is the duty of the inspector to report to the Secretary of State.
There is thus no question of any hole-and-corner procedure as has sometimes been suggested, more particularly in recent years. The whole procedure is laid clown by Order in Council in accordance with the Statute, and all investigation is carried out by the Inspector of Accidents by virtue of this Order. The Order then goes on to say that:
where it appears expedient to the Secretary of State to hold a formal investigation of an accident to which these Regulations apply he may, whether or not a preliminary investigation has taken place, by order direct a formal investigation to be held.This formal investigation is held in open court and is one of the species of investigation referred to by the noble Marquess when he made reference to a public inquiry. It will be noticed that the Order expressly leaves the ordering of a formal investigation to the discretion of the Secretary of State.The practice as to these investigations and reports thereon has been in the past much misunderstood. It has been said that it has been the desire of the Air Ministry to hush up accidents and to pre- 295 vent the true cause of any accident from being known. I was very glad to notice that the noble Marquess in his speech dissociated himself from anything of that nature. This suggestion was definitely and repeatedly made in the case of the unfortunate accident that took place at Meopham in July last, in which more than one member of this House suffered irreparable loss. I wish to state definitely and clearly that the Air Ministry has no such intention or desire and never had. Indeed shortly after the decision to refer the investigation of the cause of that accident to a special Committee, the Ministry notified the public that the Report of the Committee would be published, and the Report was published accordingly. It has also been said that the Air Ministry adopts a policy of secrecy in order to conceal its own responsibility and shortcomings in respect of accidents. Here again I wish to say that there is no foundation for this allegation. It is also sometimes said that the Service personnel of the Air Ministry controls civil aviation. That is quite inaccurate. The Service personnel does not control civil aviation. That is done by the Director of Civil Aviation who reports direct to the Minister.
The causes of air accidents may be divided into two main categories—first, error of judgment (generally under adverse conditions, such as bad weather or engine trouble), and, secondly, development of some defect in design which could not possibly have been foreseen and which is elicited by research after the accident. Inquiries so made tend to prevent similar accidents in the future. Your Lordships will readily recall examples of the first type. There have been two accidents during this winter in which experienced private owners lost their lives through flying in particularly difficult atmospheric conditions. The second type of accident is now comparatively rare. As far as we can judge, accidents due to faulty structure or design are becoming fewer.
The answer to the Question put to me by the noble Marquess depends to a large extent on the nature of the tribunal that makes the investigation into the accident. If the investigation is made by a tribunal sitting in public, it would follow that the result of the investigation would 296 be published; if, on the other hand, the investigation is not held in public, other considerations would apply. The question whether these investigations should be held in public has been much discussed. Accidents are, in practice, first investigated by the Inspector of Accidents. He holds what is called a preliminary investigation, which is none the less effective because it is conducted without formalities. He examines the wreckage, interviews witnesses, and obtains statements from them, and carries out such tests, etc., as he considers necessary. On concluding his investigation, he reports, as I have already stated, to the Secretary of State. It is sometimes said that these inquiries should be conducted in public, in the same way as inquiries into accidents on railways and shipping casualties. It may be remarked in passing that, in the case of shipping casualties, public inquiries are held only in one or two casualties out of 200 or 300; but apart from this, there is no real analogy, for railway accidents and shipping casualties, on the one hand, and air accidents, on the other, are widely different.
Take, for example, railway accidents: there is usually abundant evidence as to their circumstances, obtainable from survivors, eye-witnesses, and railway officials, and the technical causes are seldom likely to be obscure. The inspector may make inspection, but in the main he has only to sit and hear evidence marshalled before him. On the other hand, an air accident may happen anywhere. There are too often no survivors to say what occurred, and to find eye-witnesses may involve searching for them from house to house over half a countryside. The occurrence of the accident is seldom observed by anyone and most rarely by anyone with technical knowledge. By the occurrence of the accident, I mean the moment at which the breakage or defect develops in the air, and not the subsequent impact of the aircraft with the ground. It follows that the cause of an air accident has often to be reconstructed by a highly skilled expert from an examination of the wreckage and from such information as he can obtain from witnesses who have seen anything.
The wreckage must be visited immediately, and before souvenir hunters have had time to remove parts which might 297 give essential information. This expert is the Inspector of Accidents, an officer of great experience with special knowledge probably not possessed by anyone else in this country. In certain cases, even when there are no survivors, he is generally able to diagnose the cause of the accident with reasonable certainty from a study of the state in which different parts of the machine are found and the nature of the breakages and the distribution of the parts over the ground. In other cases, parts of the wreckage have to be taken away for examination and test, sometimes including test to destruction. It follows from this that the Inspector of Accidents in the case of aircraft, unlike an inspector inquiring into a railway accident or an inspector inquiring into a shipping casualty, is in most cases the only person competent to give a technical explanation of the matter. This obviously makes it difficult, if not impossible, for him to sit in public and conduct an inquiry. Even after he has made his investigations he may be unable on rare occasions to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion.
I have already referred to the investigation which may be held in "open court." This court may sit with or without assessors. It has power to summon witnesses and examine them on oath and to require the Production of documents, and in due course reports to the Secretary of State. Where courts have been held, their reports have been published. If the report of the Inspector of Accidents reveals nothing, or no satisfactory cause of the accident, and if the Secretary of State is satisfied that no useful purpose would be served by holding a public inquiry, he does not sit at his desk and say that the matter is insoluble. He refers the matter to a committee of experts. A convenient body for this purpose is the Aeronautical Research Committee, of which Sir Richard Glazebrook is Chairman. This Committee is a highly scientific body consisting of some of the most distinguished scientists of the day. It is ready to hear all available evidence and to consider and test any theories put forward. It also makes elaborate research investigations. In these circumstances, it is not compatible with its work to sit in public. It reports to the Secretary of State, and where the 298 Secretary of State has had resort to such a body he has published its reports.
Here, then, are the investigations the Secretary of State may order: an investigation by the Inspector of Accidents, informal yet thorough, and an investigation by a Court of Inquiry—these are statutory—and finally an investigation by a Committee of scientific experts. Inquiry into air accidents is, in our present state of knowledge, an inquiry apart. The science of aeronautics is in its infancy. It is often very difficult to determine the exact cause of an accident, and it is sometimes not possible to support by the ordinary rules of evidence of a Court of Law the conclusions which may be reached. This is in the nature of things, but, with the advance of the science, rules will be promulgated which only research and experience can verify.
It was at one time thought that a convenient method of inquiry might be adopted, following the precedent of inquiries into shipping casualties, by appointing courts of summary jurisdiction to hold a formal investigation, or an inquiry in open court. But it was found that such a tribunal was unsuited for such an investigation; the causes of some accidents, as I have pointed out, were too obscure, requiring scientific research, and the general problem of arriving at the true cause was too involved for a court of summary jurisdiction to give that confidence that the public and the industry required. The scheme was accordingly abandoned. It was thereupon decided to rely on the investigation by the Inspector of Accidents and, in cases where the Secretary of State thought fit, an investigation by means of a public inquiry before a specially constituted Court, and, where such a body as the Aeronautical Research Committee was deemed the appropriate tribunal, to refer the matter to it.
I have carefully reviewed the whole question. I propose to maintain the present practice of only ordering formal public inquiries where it is held that they would serve a useful purpose. There will be no hesitation in ordering a public inquiry wherever there seems to be a prima facie case for such a course. May I point out the advantages of the present procedure? It is elastic. The Inspector of Accidents makes an investigation into all serious civil accidents and also all 299 other civil accidents, the circumstances of which appear to require investigation. When a public inquiry is called for, it is held; when the case is one which is far more suitable for investigation by a highly technical body, such as the Aeronautical Research Committee, that form of investigation takes place. If a permanent Court were set up, or a procedure adopted whereby public inquiries were automatically held into all civil accidents, a very considerable expenditure would be incurred and additional staff would be required in the branches concerned at the Air Ministry. I do not think that any advantage which might be gained would justify the expenditure.
Having shown the kind of inquiries that are most appropriate to investigate the cause of accidents in civil aviation, I will now deal with the Question addressed to me by the noble Marquess. He put a question to me regarding the progress in civil aviation and the relative figures of accidents to the number of journeys taken. I regret that I have not the figures by me but, if he will allow me, I shall be very happy to furnish him with the numbers in that respect. With regard to the publication of the conclusions of the Inspector of Accidents, as the noble Marquess pointed out, their publication has been rare in the past. Hitherto the Ministry has only published the inspector's conclusions on six occasions during the last ten years, out of 130 investigations. I think the time has come when the practice of publicity may wisely be extended. In future the conclusions will be published in cases of all accidents in this country to British civil aircraft plying for hire which involve loss of life or serious injury. Accordingly, the conclusions will be published, not only in the cases of accidents on regular air transport services, which is the class of accident round which discussions have so far centred, but also in the cases of all accidents to "taxi" or "joy-riding" machines, whenever they are plying for hire or reward in the normal course of civil aviation. The inspector's conclusions will also be published in all cases, other than those falling in the category mentioned, which present special features, or in which it 300 appears that there are any useful lessons to be learned from the point of view of practical flying, technical development or aircraft construction.
Interested parties, as hitherto, can always have the gist of conclusions communicated to them. Where an investigation has been held by a Court of Inquiry, or an investigation has been made by such a body as the Aeronautical Research Committee, the present practice of publishing these reports will be continued. The policy which I have decided to adopt may, therefore, I suggest, be fairly said to meet fully the request of the noble Marquess. The results of investigations into accidents to aircraft engaged in public transport will thus be afforded a greater degree of publicity than hitherto. I hope my statement will satisfy the noble Marquess.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRYI am very much obliged to the noble Lord for his full answer to my Question.