SafeSkies Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1
August 1, 2009
LATEST NEWS FROM SAFESKIES
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Welcome to the first issue of the SafeSkies Newsletter!
A great deal has taken place since the Aviation Safety Round Table resulted in the launch of Despite the various outside obligations of the group members, we have continued to work together to find the best ways to educate the public and initiate change to ensure the safety of our Canadian skies. Participants are also working towards change within the mandates of their individual organizations and experiences. Many great ideas have been put forward and are being prioritized. Please be sure to read our Mission Statement and Objectives, http://safeskies.ca/mission.html, the most important addition made to the website, and reprinted at the end of the Newsletter.
Over the next weeks and months, you will find many additions to the site. These will include: links to news items in which Round Table participants and representatives have and/or are expected to play a part; a petition, based on the Mission Statement and Objectives, to the House of Commons; links to complimentary websites; the addition of discussion forums; and a French version of the website. Please visit often, and tell your friends! Newsletters will now be sent out on a bi-weekly basis.
In addition, Kirsten Stevens was interviewed about SMS and aviation safety by "The Rutherford Show", a Calgary based radio program, on July 28th. It is available for listening here:
http://www3.telus.net/public/t9232724/index_files/Rutherford%20Show.mp3.
We continue to reach out to the public at large in search of volunteers who are committed to aviation safety to help in any way they are able, as we work towards our eventual incorporation as a not-for-profit group.
Please keep sending your stories, comments and concerns to
kirsten.stevens@safeskies.ca and/or kirsten.brazier@safeskies.ca.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
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For those not already aware, the TC Safety Management Systems implementation page, http://www.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/SMS/implementation.htm, has been updated recently. The page used to indicate that the NPA's regulating SMS in the 702/703/704 sectors would be entered into the Gazette (Part I) in July, and Part II in September. The TC website now forecasts for December and February 2010.
A number of recent high-profile accidents and investigations have brought aviation safety into the forefront of many news articles. The crash of Air France Flight 447, investigations and preliminary reports into the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo, the US Airways "miracle on the Hudson" and the Cougar Helicopter crash in Newfoundland have highlighted issues which easily translate to underscore the concerns held about the state of aviation safety in Canada, including oversight, certification, communication, fatigue and training. Groups like the FAA Whisleblower Alliance, (http://faa-whistleblower.blogspot.com/), and the Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association, (http://www.airline-whistleblowers.org/index.html), have had some success in helping the US Senate to understand and address whistleblower legislation,
(http://www.whistleblower.org/content/press_detail.cfm?press_id=1716). The US Office of the Inspector General's recently issued two reports, one criticizing the Aviation Safety Action Program (http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=2471), the other criticizing the oversight of "on-demand" operators (http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=2511). On July 29th, the US House Transportation Committee introduced the bipartisan "Aviation Safety Bill", H.R. 3371, (http://transportation.house.gov/News/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=978).
It is high time Canada paid equal attention. From the International Civil Aviation Organization's 'Accident Prevention Manual' (1984): "Complacency or a false sense of security should not be allowed to develop as a result of long periods without an accident or serious incident. An organization with a good safety record is not necessarily a safe organization."
The non-airline sectors continue to see their share of tragedies. In the last two months there have been four fatal accidents involving working pilots, all four assigned Class 3 investigation classification (meaning a public report into causes and contributing factors) by the Transportation Safety Board. There have also been a number of non-fatal accidents and serious incidents which are Class 5, lest we forget. For an explanation of the Transportation Safety Board's Occurrence Classification Policy, please see this website: http://tsb.gc.ca/eng/normes-standards/evenements-occurrences.asp.
Finally, a warm welcome to Daniel Slunder, Greg Holbrook's replacement as Chair of the Canadian Federal Pilots Association. Mr. Slunder took over the reins on July 1st, and showed how well he will continue to represent his Association, by issuing an article titled "Federal Inspections for Planes is Far Weaker than for Cold Cuts" (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/op-ed/Federal+inspection+planes+weaker+than+cold+cuts/1818555/story.html), which was printed in the Hill Times and the Ottawa Citizen on July 23rd.
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MISSION STATEMENT
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To act as a watchdog for the aviation industry in order to ensure public and political awareness of issues jeopardizing safety in Canadian skies. To ensure protections are in place to protect aviation workers and the travelling public, and to ensure transparency and accountability of Transport Canada.
OBJECTIVES
To add a layer of checks and balances to the regulatory oversight of aviation in Canada by:
- Holding Transport Canada accountable to Canadian Federal Laws by appointing an industry ombudsman, and/or independent and elected legal review board, freely accessible to industry and Transport Canada;
- Holding Transport Canada accountable to the Canadian public by appointing a Commission of Inquiry headed by a superior court judge to conduct periodic judicial review into Canada's state of national aviation safety and related regulatory infrastructure;
- Ensuring Canada meets its obligations to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) under the Chicago Convention by including elected industry representatives to be on hand during ICAO audits.
To protect the rights of industry workers and the travelling public by:
- Promoting the right to a safe workplace, free of reprisal for reporting safety issues, for aviation workers in both the public and private sectors;
- Ensuring that the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada investigate all accidents that result in death or serious injury of a worker for cause and contributing factors in a timely fashion, and the results made public as they are with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States;
- Ensuring that the TSB Aviation Safety Information System (ASIS) is made public as is the NTSB database in the United States;
- Removing Access to Information barriers protecting the privacy of aviation companies operating in Canada; requiring audit findings to be made available and operators to be held accountable to the public.
This mission statement will be reviewed periodically, and amended as required to address objectives as they are achieved, and new issues as they arise.
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CONTACT US
Send comments to kirsten.brazier@safeskies.ca or kirsten.stevens@safeskies.ca.
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