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By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
April 1, 2010 4:32 PM

OTTAWA — Despite assurances from the top brass at Transport Canada that the government will step up safety checks at airlines, newly released instructions to inspectors says this will only happen if there are extra resources available in any given year.

Transport Canada's staff instructions on "surveillance procedures," tabled Thursday at parliamentary hearings into aviation safety in Canada, reveal that traditional forms of oversight, such as inflight inspections, ramp inspections during day-to-day operations and aircraft inspections, are to be considered discretionary and contingent on resources.   Read more...

Exhausted Pilots, Fatal Accidents and Outdated Air Industry Regulations are Examined in a CBC News Exclusive Investigation
March 24-26 On CBC

Pilot fatigue. No amount of training or experience can compensate for a pilot who is flying while severely sleep deprived or who has worked excessive hours without rest. And while this problem only makes headlines when tragedy strikes, it may be happening more often than you realize. Dead Tired, a CBC News investigation, sheds light on this dangerous circumstance and asks if Canadian regulators are doing enough to ensure pilots aren’t flying exhausted behind the controls. What the investigation reveals will shock you.

THE NATIONAL – Wednesday, March 24 and Friday, March 26 on CBC Television at 10 p.m. (10:30 NT), and on CBC News Network at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT.    Read more...

As many readers will be aware, some of the Objectives in the SafeSkies Mission relate to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB).  It is for this reason the following statement is contained in the Petition for Judicial Inquiry into Aviation Safety:

WHEREAS, the Transportation Safety Board no longer investigates all serious accidents for cause and contributing factors, nor does it make public the results of all investigations, resulting in a loss of valuable safety information.

The Petition was first tabled in the House of Commons on November 19th, 2009.  Although no formal reply has yet been received from Transport Canada or its Minister, the following reply from the TSB was tabled on March 4th, 2010.  It is unfortunate that the TSB does not recognize our concerns as valid.   Read more...

On March 16, 2010, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced its new Watchlist to highlight what they consider to be the past recommendations to Transport Canada which most require action.  Among the concerns, Safety Managements Systems was cited as a multi-modal Problem.   Read more...