Reading an Accident Report
How to read a final report the way investigators write them
A final accident report is a technical document written to a convention, and most of what people get wrong about accidents comes from reading it as if it were a news story. This course teaches the structure, the vocabulary and the reasoning, using real reports.
Lessons
- 1What an accident report is forFreePrevention, not blame. Why Annex 13 says that out loud, and what follows from it.9 min
- 2The anatomy of a final reportFreeThe five-part structure every ICAO-format report shares, and what belongs in each part.12 min
- 3Factual information: reading the evidenceFlight recorders, wreckage, weather, maintenance records. What each source can and cannot establish.15 min
- 4Analysis: from evidence to explanationHow investigators reason, why they discuss theories they reject, and how to spot the load-bearing paragraph.16 min
- 5Findings, causes and contributing factorsThe most misquoted section in aviation. What 'probable cause' actually claims, and what it does not.14 min
- 6Safety recommendations and what happens nextRecommendations are the output that matters. How they are tracked, and how often they are refused.11 min
- 7Seven common misreadingsThe mistakes that produce bad headlines, bad forum arguments and bad safety conclusions.13 min
Assessment
The course ends with 20 questions. They are application rather than recall: most give you something in the shape of report language and ask what it does and does not establish. Every answer comes back explained and pointing at the lesson it came from.
75% or better produces a completion record — a dated page showing the course and your score, which you can link to. It is a record of having done the reading, not a professional certification, and it does not pretend to be one.