March 31, 2014
Listen to an NBAA Flight Plan on NBAA’s Safety Committee’s Top Safety Focus Areas.
Following the announcement earlier this year of the NBAA Safety Committee’s 2014 Top Safety Focus Areas, the committee and its associated working groups are already working to develop products, resources and tools to help Member Companies elevate safety standards and best practices within their operations.
These efforts are being carefully designed within the construct of the 10 identified focus areas – issues within business aviation that committee members believe require greater attention and increased vigilance across all aspects of flight operations.
Between now and NBAA’s 2014 Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA2014), which takes place from Oct. 21 to 23 in Orlando, FL, each of the committee’s 10 Top Safety Focus Areas will be the topic of a podcast and web article series that examines in further detail the identified risks and the efforts of the dedicated working groups.
“These are important areas of concern for our industry,” said NBAA Operations Specialist Peter Korns. “Our goal with this series is to keep the conversation going and to continue to place valuable tools and capabilities at operators’ fingertips throughout the year.”
The ten focus areas identified by the Safety Committee are:
- Professionalism
- Positive Safety Culture
- Single-Pilot Safety
- Fitness for Duty
- Airport Safety
- Airmanship Skills
- Distraction Management
- Public Policy
- The Talent Pipeline
- Technology Management
“When we first started the risk assessment process about two years ago, we had roughly 30 topics,” said NBAA Safety Committee Vice Chairman Steve Charbonneau. “But we narrowed that down because we felt we had to be focused on the most critical issues.”
Committee Secretary David Ryan said that while there is no particular order or priority given to the list, there are two cornerstone items that touch all others – professionalism and positive safety culture.
Another important item on the NBAA Safety Committee list is single-pilot safety.
“That’s been a safety area of focus for a number of years,” Charbonneau pointed out. “The majority of our members are single-pilot operators who fly difficult missions in demanding environments. We want to provide them with the resources and tools they need to fly successful missions.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.