The government agency overseeing air safety in Australia says it will have to scale back the number of non-fatal accidents it investigates because of limited resources.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Greg Hood says his organisation will continue to investigate most accidents and serious incidents involving the travelling public.
But he wants to be more efficient, by becoming more "data-driven".
In so doing, the bureau will be able to more selectively allocate its limited resources to investigating those accidents and incidents that have the greatest potential for improving safety, Mr Hood writes in the ATSB's annual report.
"If there is no obvious public safety benefit to investigating an accident, the ATSB is less likely to conduct a complex, resource-intensive investigation."
Mr Hood says the bureau endeavours to investigate all fatal accidents involving VH-registered powered aircraft in Australia subject to the resources available and what can be learnt from the incident.
"But we will need to carefully consider the resources we allocate to investigations into general aviation fatal accidents and constrain the scope of investigations into non-fatal accidents in this sector," he writes.
There were not many safety benefits in investigating incidents which have obvious contributing factors, such as unauthorised low-level flying or visibly flying into poor weather.
"Instead, educating pilots on the dangers of high-risk activity is where we will refocus our efforts, with an emphasis on using social media."
Mr Hood says technology is already having an influence on his bureau's work, especially given the use of drones.
He notes pizza delivery using the technology is reportedly imminent.
