Accident vs Incident
An accident involves death, serious injury, substantial damage or a missing aircraft. Anything else affecting safety is an incident — a serious incident being one that nearly became an accident.
The distinction is defined in Annex 13 and matters because it decides what must be investigated and reported internationally. A serious incident is investigated the same way as an accident, and the archive treats several of them as full case files.
Related terms
The international standard governing aircraft accident investigation. It defines who investigates, what an accident is, and that the sole objective is prevention — not blame.
The investigating authority has published its concluding report, with findings, causes and safety recommendations. This is the authoritative account.