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Next month, I am scheduled to give
a presentation at the International
Union of Aerospace Insurers’
(IUAI) annual general meeting.
The topic is “2012: Blip or Step-Change.”
This speaking engagement is significant
on a number of fronts. First of
all, the IUAI meeting is being held in
Bermuda and, as most of you probably
are aware, there are worse places to
spend a few days in early June. Secondly,
I recently marked my one-year anniversary
at Flight Safety Foundation, so
I’m interpreting Foundation President
and CEO Kevin Hiatt’s approval to
take on this engagement as a vote of
confidence.
Most important, however, is the
subject. Was the much-ballyhooed safest
year since the dawn of time, or least
since the dawn of aviation, a blip on the
continuum or does it mark a permanent
change? Has the industry achieved an
unmatched, sustainable level of safety
excellence?
As we all know by now, the data show
that 2012 was the safest year on record
for commercial aviation, particularly if
you just look at Western-built equipment.
But as we have mentioned in Aero-
Safety World, and as was pointed out in
April in Montreal at the Foundation’s
FLIGHTSAFETY.ORG | AEROSAFETYWORLD | MAY 2013
FOCUS ON THE
Journey
58th annual Business Aviation Safety
Seminar (BASS), the same stellar accident
rate isn’t found in all geographic
regions or across all aviation sectors.
The commercial aviation accident rate
is significantly worse in Africa than in
North America; there were more accidents
involving turboprops last year
than involving commercial jets; and it’s
tough to compare commercial aviation
to corporate aviation because it’s difficult
to come up with accurate exposure data
such as number of flights or departures
in the business aviation sector.
My presentation still is in the preparation
phase, and I will depend on Kevin
and others here at the Foundation to vet
everything before I actually step onto the
podium in Bermuda, so I’m not yet ready
to answer the “blip or step-change”
question. But I bring up the speech because
with it looming, I find myself very
attuned to what others are saying about
the industry’s accident rate and aviation
safety prospects, and because I recently
returned from BASS, where, of course,
the topic was much discussed.
At BASS, Steve Brown, chief operating
officer for the National Business
Aviation Association, said, “Safety is
what defines the public perception of
business aviation.”
EDITORIALPAGE
Of course, that’s true of commercial
aviation, as well. That perception is
a positive when your accident rate is
improving, but could be a negative in
some sectors, such as emergency medical
services, which have seen a spate of
accidents recently.
Merlin Preuss, vice president of government
and regulatory affairs at the
Canadian Business Aviation Association,
said, “It’s getting harder to avoid the big
one.” He pointed to demographics and
said that business aviation is seeing decreasing
experience levels in operations
personnel and increasing complexity and
sophistication in the aircraft being used.
And George Ferito, outgoing chairman
of the Foundation’s Business Advisory
Committee and an executive at
FlightSafety International, said that it
is inevitable that there will be accidents
and that “safety is not a destination. It’s
a journey.”
So, where are we in our journey?
Frank Jackman
Editor-in-Chief
AeroSafety World
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