FAA forum promotes safety through sharing information, best practices

[Clark]

FAA forum promotes safety through sharing information, best practices



A wealth of information is available on aviation safety, but
improvement is needed in coordinating and sharing the best safety
practices that could benefit the entire industry, ICAO Secretary
General Raymond Benjamin said yesterday at the annual FAA
International Aviation Safety Forum in Washington.

"There's no need for anyone not to have access to safety-critical
information," Benjamin said. "We need a global safety information
exchange." Such an exchange would lead to more "targeted regulations"
and provide data and information on best practices, he argued. "It's
truly an idea whose time has come."



He told ATWOnline he anticipates that the "principle" of the exchange
will be agreed upon at a March ICAO meeting in Montreal. The
information network would be Web-based and supported by both FAA and
EASA, he indicated.

Benjamin also noted that international cooperative efforts are
underway to examine issues related to pilot fatigue, which received
considerable attention following the February crash of a Colgan Air
Q400 outside Buffalo (ATWOnline, July 21). "We will look at all
aspects of fatigue management," he said.



JetBlue Airways COO Rob Maruster also spoke out in support of improved
information sharing and leadership by example in developing a strong
safety culture. "As an industry we need to do a better job just
speaking to the results, and the results speak for themselves," he
said.

Rather than individual airlines, he argued that FAA, the US Dept. of
Transportation and trade groups like the Air Transport Assn. and the
Regional Airline Assn. should promote both the industry's safety
record and the changes being made to improve it. He acknowledged that
some of those changes occur after fatal accidents. "I don't think we
do a very good job talking about the changes we have made," he said.
"As an industry, we need to do a much better job of speaking to those
changes when they are made. In essence we are becoming safer in many
respects."

http://atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=17830