WASHINGTON, 12 Nov. 2015. The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Safety Committee, including the committee’s Risk Assessment Team, have launched the third-annual Top Safety Focus Areas list, intended to promote safety-focused discussion and targeted safety focuses within the industry, and first-ever Business Aviation Leadership Safety Survey.
The committee surveyed a diverse group of business aviation leaders to gather their opinions on safety practices, perceptions, and concerns. Survey-takers were the business aviation professionals who routinely and effectively identify and mitigate risks that threaten their operations.
Eighty-one percent of respondents rated the safety culture in their flight organizations to be excellent or very good, they also identified several top areas of concern for business aviation safety. Top takeaways identified by the Safety Committee include:
Effective fatigue-risk management for business aviation operations is an ongoing concern of safety leaders
High concern about the risk of aircraft damage during ground operations, handling and servicing
Approach and landing risks are considered prominent, with about half of respondents reporting at least one incident or close call in the last two-year period
More data sharing and safety collaboration is needed, such as employing flight-data monitoring or participating in an information-sharing program
Policies Lacking for Personal Electronic Devices -- the risk of PED-induced distraction is a more modest concern. While 8 percent of respondents viewed it as a “major risk,” 53 percent gauged it as a minor risk and 11 percent considered it no risk at all. Further, 68 percent of respondents said that pilot compliance with PED policies was mostly/always followed during flight duties.
Of potentially more concern, however, was that 27 percent reported that their organization had no stated PED policy for pilots during flight duties, and over half said there was no such policy for technicians during maintenance duties.
The Risk Assessment Team is now preparing to launch its 2016 survey before the end of November to enable results to be available in the new year. Operating members interested in taking the 2016 survey should watch for the survey to be announced soon.
For the full report, visit: https://www.nbaa.org/ops/safety/2015-nbaa-safety-survey-takeaways.pdf
