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The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) today said that planning was well underway for a highly valuable European Safety Standdown – the third of its kind – produced by Bombardier in partnership with EBAA and NBAA. As with past years, this year’s event will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland on May 11, 2009, in conjunction with the European Business Aviation Convention&Exhibition (EBACE2009).

“Our industry’s commitment to safe operating practices is reflected in the presenters and content we provide each year at the European Safety Standdown, and this year’s event will be no exception,” said EBAA President and CEO Brian Humphries, pointing to several of the aviation safety experts included in the program for this year’s event, such as:

• Tony Kern, Convergent Performance
• Sean Roberts, National Test Pilot School
• Mark Rosekind, Alertness Solutions
• John Nance, author and aerospace analyst, ABC News

“Around the world, safety is the cornerstone of business aviation and ‘Job One’ for the industry,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “Events like this one are an ideal way to further our industry’s culture of safety. NBAA looks forward to seeing everyone in Geneva for our 3rd Annual European Safety Standdown.”

The Safety Standdown focuses on reducing the risk of human errors – the underlying cause of most accidents – by combining skill-based training with knowledge-based training. The European Safety Standdown provides operators with tools to improve risk mitigation, department procedures and processes, and to establish clear and distinct pathways for introspective analysis of professionalism.

Workshops at this year’s European Safety Standdown include crew resource management, advanced aerodynamics for business aviation and fatigue countermeasures. Register for the 2009 European Safety Standdown and find more information on EBACE2009 by visiting www.ebace.aero.

E-mail your press releases, news tips and feedback to the CharterX News Editor at News@CharterX.com.

A Federal Aviation Administration official said Wednesday that the agency planned to propose new rules requiring medical helicopters to use additional safety equipment, including collision avoidance systems. 

The agency’s move follows a series of fatal medical helicopter crashes over the last two years that have killed 35 people. In recent years, both the National Safety Transportation Board, which makes recommendations to the FAA, and air safety experts have criticized the agency for not moving more quickly to improve medical helicopter safety. 

Previously, the FAA took the position that helicopter operators could make safety changes more quickly if they acted voluntarily. But John Allen, the FAA’s director of flight standards, testified at a Congressional hearing Wednesday that the agency, while recognizing the industry’s voluntary actions, would soon begin a rulemaking proceeding to mandate the use of certain safety equipment and procedures. 

“We recognize that relying on voluntarily compliance alone is not enough to ensure safe flight operations,” Mr. Allen testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation. 

More than 800 medical helicopters are currently estimated to be operating in this country, airlifting the sick and injured, often under emergency conditions. In the last decade, the industry has doubled in size, and many of the aircraft are operated by for-profit companies. Safety experts contend that competition among companies for flights has added to the risks. 

The industry includes publicly traded companies like the Air Methods Corporation and PHI Inc., as well as smaller privately held operators. 

While the FAA plans to begin the rulemaking procedure later this year or early next, the rules will first undergo a public comment period and may not take effect until 2011. 

Among other measures, the FAA proposal would include a requirement that medical helicopters have so-called terrain awareness and avoidance systems, which warn of nearby terrestrial obstacles. 

The systems, which can cost up to $100,000 for each helicopter, are used only on about 40 percent of the nation’s medical helicopters. Dawn Mancuso, the head of the Association of Air Medical Services, a trade group based in Alexandria, Va., said some operators might not be able to afford the equipment.

E-mail your press releases, news tips and feedback to the CharterX News Editor at News@CharterX.com.