The first three months of the New Year have provided a unique opportunity for me to participate in two aviation industry safety symposiums which were held in quite geographically diverse parts of the world.
I was fortunate enough to be a Safety Panelist at the 2018 LeClairRyan Airline Symposium held this past February in Tysons Corners, Virginia and a Safety Panel Moderator at the Willis Towers Watson Aviation Conference 2018 held this month in Sentosa Island, Singapore. As such, I have truly been inspired by the collaborative manner in which various stakeholders are coming together in support of the common cause of improving the safety of the global aviation industry.
Much different from the “us” vs “them” methodology of the past, we now have global airline and corporate aviation leaders proactively interacting with civil aviation safety regulators, accident investigation officials, first-responders, airport authorities, insurance brokers, underwriters, safety professionals, and ground service providers in order to identify and address unacceptable areas of risk to our passengers and employees.
Even more remarkable, is that regardless of the geo-political ideologies that may be in place (both foreign and domestic) we are all speaking in the common language of Safety Management Systems (SMS). Safety Performance Indicators, risk assessments, root cause analysis, and management review are now well established within the industry’s vocabulary.
Since first entering this industry in 1975 as a regional airline pilot, I cannot remember a time when I have been more optimistic about the future of the aviation industry’s safety performance. There may be industry pundits that characterize the aviation safety performance of 2017 as an outlier, and the fatal hull losses of the first three months of 2018 as more the expected norm. However, I find myself joining those that feel that the future is bright.