General aviation in the USA has been given a target for safety improvement under the Federal Aviation Administration's Safer Skies programme, which until now has concentrated on commercial air transport safety.
A 20% reduction in the fatal GA accident rate by 2007 has been deemed a feasible "safety metric", according to the US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's (AOPA) Air Safety Foundation (ASF) executive director Bruce Landsberg.
Working with the ASF, the FAA has been identifying priorities for action, which are likely to include weather-related, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and runway incursion accidents. Weather and CFIT, says Landsberg, are the greatest killers, but runway incursion accidents are preventable while others are not such "fruitful areas for intervention".
Landsberg says that with analysis almost complete, an implementation policy is awaited. The recommendations are expected by the middle of 2000 and could justify FAA rulemaking affecting private GA, non-scheduled Part 135 operators, and airports/airfields. Landsberg warns, however, that intervention in GA is more difficult because private GA does not operate in as disciplined an environment as airlines.
Source: Flight International
