Nov. 9, 2015
NBAA’s Safety Committee gives its work direction and focus by publishing an annual Top Safety Focus Areas list, which is intended to promote safety-focused discussion within the industry and help the committee prioritize how NBAA resources should be used to help improve safety industry-wide. In conjunction with the third annual list, the committee’s Risk Assessment Team this year transformed the process of creating the annual list into data-driven project by launching the first-ever Business Aviation Leadership Safety Survey.
Intended to be an annual exercise, the 2015 survey targeted 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, who are some of the most qualified people to give their feedback on safety concerns facing the industry.
While 81 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
- They also have a 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
With a benchmark set by the 2015 survey, 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 in NBAA Update and on NBAA’s social media sites, but in the meantime, a report on the results of the 2015 survey is available for download.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.