Airlines, aerospace manufacturers and pilots have formed a coalition to help the airline industry and government regulators prioritise leading safety issues.
The Commercial Aviation Safety Strategy Team (CASST), which includes the Air Transport Association, Aerospace Industries Association, Air Line Pilots Association, Airbus Industrie, Boeing, General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, says that air safety initiatives in the past have been "all over the map, and often of marginal value. It's time to focus on programmes that hold the greatest promise of meaningful progress in air safety".
The CASST safety plan includes flight safety, cabin safety, engineering and maintenance and safety data. The participants believe that controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents can be reduced through training efforts now under way and the installation of enhanced ground proximity warning systems. The participants are also promoting development and installation of better windshear, ice, wake turbulence and clear-air turbulence detectors on commercial transports.
Meanwhile, they believe that the number of uncontained engine failures can be reduced with improved non-destructive inspection techniques. They also advocate maintenance resource management programmes for technicians and widespread use of flight operations quality assurance safety data collection and distribution.
The US Federal Aviation Administration backs the initiative and is about to unveil its agenda.
Source: Flight International
