Umbrella term for any safety-related event in aviation, covering everything from a minor incident to an accident.
What it is
In aviation safety, ‘occurrence’ is the catch-all word for accidents, serious incidents and incidents alike. European rules define it as any safety-related event that endangers, or could endanger if not corrected, an aircraft, its occupants or anyone else.
How an occurrence is classified decides what happens next. An accident or serious incident triggers a formal investigation under ICAO Annex 13, while a minor incident is usually reported and analysed within the safety management system of the airline, airport or air navigation service provider. Many countries make certain occurrences mandatory to report and encourage voluntary reporting of the rest, because a steady stream of small warnings reveals trends long before they become a problem.
A simple example: a cargo-hold smoke warning that turns out to be a false alarm is still an occurrence. It is logged, the detector is checked and, if the same fault crops up on other aircraft of the type, it can lead to a design improvement.
On Vuelopedia
On Vuelopedia, the News section lists recent occurrences (incidents and accidents) with what happened, when and where, and an aircraft record includes those on file in its event history.
Related terms
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Occurrence. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/occurrence
MLA
“Occurrence.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/occurrence. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Occurrence.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/occurrence.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Occurrence. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/occurrence (Accessed: 17 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_occurrence,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Occurrence}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/occurrence},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/occurrence}},
urldate = {2026-10-17},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/occurrence |title=Occurrence |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}