Aviation Issues: NBAA Yearly Top Safety Focus Areas and the Ongoing Threat of ATC Privatization

Aviation Issues: NBAA Yearly Top Safety Focus Areas and the Ongoing Threat of ATC Privatization

2017 NBAA Top Safety Focus Areas

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) recently released its annual list of Top Safety Focus Areas, topics identified by the NBAA Safety Committee as primary risk-mitigation targets for all business aircraft operators.

Each year during its annual risk assessment meeting, the NBAA Safety Committee reviews safety survey results, risk-based safety data, and qualitative input from industry and regulatory partners, other NBAA committees and association members. Following this data-driven review, the committee members deliberate and develop a list of safety focus areas for the year. The committee goal is to promote and stimulate safety-focused discussion and advocacy throughout the business aviation industry, as well as to help NBAA prioritize how it should focus its safety-improvement resources.

Below are the 2017 NBAA Top Safety Focus Areas and a summary of each.

Loss of control inflight (LOC-I) – LOC-I accidents result in more fatalities in business aviation than any other category of accident. The NTSB continues to target this issue in their “Most Wanted” list of safety improvements, as the “alarming consistency of catastrophic outcomes in this type of accident make this a targeting issue for safety improvement by the NBAA Safety Committee and aviation professional organizations across the globe.”

Runway excursions – Documented as the most common type of accident in business aviation, runway excursions account for nearly a third of all accidents. Most excursions are preventable by recognizing well-identified risk factors, adhering to stabilized approach and landing criteria and using accurate and timely runway condition data. The challenge seems to lie with adopting procedures and changing behaviors.

Single-pilot accident rate – Accident rates are consistently higher for single-pilot operated aircraft, being 30 percent more likely to be in an accident than a dual-pilot crew. As one might expect, single-pilot operations are more susceptible to task saturation, and when it increases, the number of errors also grows.

Procedural non-compliance – Professionals are duty bound to comply with federal, state and local regulations, as well as company policies and manufacturer procedures, yet it has been found that non-compliance is a significant contributing factor in aircraft accidents and incidents. Whether professional or not, causes for non-compliance need to be identified and solutions found.

Ground handling collisions – Collisions on the ground involving aircraft, vehicles and buildings result less in fatalities and more in costs associated with the incidents. Not only does it affect those involved monetarily with aircraft repairs, but time out of service and decrease in value are also significant.

Distractions – Disruptions and having too much to keep up with in the cockpit result in loss of situational awareness and continue to be the most prevalent human threat to safety. It is believed that proactive management of personal electronic devices, pressure and other stressors are needed to mitigate the hazard.

Scenario- and risk-based training and checking – It is believed that committing and receiving quality training will make the most positive impact in aviation safety. The new training and checking approach integrates Aeronautical Decision Making and problem solving via scenarios drawn from operator risk profiles. The key to this approach is the need to optimize the balance between learning and checking and refreshing it with the latest safety issues.

Airspace complexities – Overall demand for airspace continues to rise. Whether it be weather impacting traffic flow, NextGen technology integration, or the increase of small unmanned aircraft systems, continued vigilance is required for aviation safety.

When announcing the top safety focus areas for this year, Chairman of NBAA’s Safety Committee David Ryan said, “The safety focus areas identified by the Safety Committee underscore the most significant aircraft operations-related risks challenging our industry. Based on the NBAA’s Safety Policy, our team is committed to continue collaborating with regulators, members and other industry stakeholders to develop tools and best practices that address these challenges head-on.”

In addition to the 2017 list, the Safety Committee continues to promote and focus on its five “foundations of safety,” considered the heart of the committee’s messaging: professionalism, safety leadership, technical excellence, risk management and fitness for duty.

The NBAA website (www.nbaa.org) has several tools on their site that are informational and helpful in relation to the safety areas, as well as other aviation-related subjects.

The Latest on Privatizing ATC

The budget proposed recently by President Trump includes the privatization of air traffic control, calling for a “multi-year reauthorization proposal to shift the air traffic control function of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to an independent, non-governmental organization, making the system more efficient and innovative while maintaining safety.”

Shortly after the budget was made public, 16 general aviation advocacy groups joined forces to express their concerns to leaders in the House and Senate in a letter which stated, “The general aviation community has very real and long-standing concerns, which include but are not limited to user fees.” Those concerns are based on experiences of other countries that have operated in privatized systems, and produced a negative impact on general aviation.

Before the budget proposal was released, the U.S. Senate appropriation leaders expressed their concerns in a letter to their Senate colleagues stating that creating an independent air traffic control organization would be “devastation [to] a core component of our economy.”

It also stated that the “public would not be well-served by exempting any part of the FAA from annual congressional oversight.” The annual appropriations process provides the oversight of agency resources necessary to ensure accountability for program performance and a sustained focus on aviation safety. In addition, the “oversight also ensures that the FAA maintains a system that works throughout the aviation industry, including for general aviation, small and rural communities, commercial airlines, and large metropolitan cities.”

National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and CEO Ed Bolen told attendees at a recent association regional forum that those in the aviation industry need to let their representatives in Washington, D.C., know that privatizing the ATC would be unacceptable. “We’ve won this at a grassroots level before, because people in our industry have made their voices heard, and that’s what we’re asking everybody to do again,” he said. “The public airspace belongs to the public. We need access to airports, and we need access to airspace. That’s why ATC privatization represents a significant threat to our industry. We’re going to have to find a way to respond, and it begins with everyone getting engaged.”

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