A
Acceptable Level of Safety
The overall level of operational safety performance established by the State, and expressed as the safety expectation(s) of the Authority and/or the operator. From the perspective of the relationship between the Authority and the operator, the acceptable level of safety provides the minimum operational safety performance the Authority expects the operator to achieve while conducting core business functions. In practice, the acceptable level of safety is expressed in terms of operational safety performance indicators and operational safety performance objectives, and is a reference against which the oversight authority is able to measure the operational safety performance of an operator.
See Operational (Safety and Security) Performance Indicators, Operational (Safety and Security) Performance Objectives and Operational (Safety and Security) Requirements
Acceptance (State or Authority) See State Acceptance.

Accident
An occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft that takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked in which a person is fatally or seriously injured, the aircraft sustains substantial damage, or the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible.
Equivalent Terms: Aircraft Accident, Hull Loss
Accident Prevention and Flight Safety Programme
A staff management function that specialises in the collection and analysis of operational information and data for the purpose of preventing accidents or incidents associated with aircraft operations. Typical programme elements include:
- investigation of operational accidents, incidents and irregularities;
- liaison with regulatory and investigative authorities;
- collection and analysis of flight data and information;
- review and analysis of flight safety and confidential human factors reports;
- issuance of an operational safety publications;