Comment (Flight International, 13-19 January) calls for a more open approach to the work done the national authorities and European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) countries under the safety assessment of foreign aircraft (SAFA) programme. The issues of consumer protection and the public's view of aviation are both valid. However, the one issue that has not yet been raised is that of the quality of the work carried out by inspectors.
Having experienced the inspection process over the course of the past few years, within Europe and outside, the prevailing image of the inspection programmes, with a few exceptions, is that they are amateurish and inconsistent. Too often, the inspection consists of a very brief, superficial and subjective look at an aircraft and some of its documents. For example, a review of the aircraft's cargo documentation package is not of much use, when the inspector only arrives after that cargo had been offloaded and takes 30s to complete the work. Anyone can print out a notice to captain of hazardous cargo; but not everyone can do it according to all the requirements and load the aircraft correctly.
Perhaps one of the reasons that ECAC won't publish the data is that it doesn't stand up to serious open scrutiny. Ramp checks are no bad thing, but if the industry is to continue to be subject to these checks, then perhaps ECAC could do a better job in addressing safety in a competent and professional manner.
Name and address withheld
Source: Flight International
