The Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert on Wednesday to key personnel in the airline industry after a series of near collisions and a safety summit last week aimed at avoiding a catastrophe.
The Safety Alert for Operators was issued for integral industry personnel such as directors of operations, chief pilots, directors of training, check airmen, directors of safety, program managers, pilots and operators, the alert said.
The alert is meant to have the key personnel brush up on safety standards and protocols.
Some of the recommendations included:
- · Use all available internal communication processes to specifically highlight recent events and existing issues;
- · Reinforce adherence to published processes and procedures, including checklists, air traffic control instructions, and internal company procedures;
- · Ensure pilots and flight attendants have the same understanding of what “sterile flight deck” means and the risks associated with extraneous communication during that time and
- · Encourage personnel to identify and report existing and emerging safety issues through voluntary reporting programs and understand the usefulness of the voluntary reporting system.
“Effective safety management is designed to detect emerging safety issues, assess the level of risk and address those risks through mitigations. Those mitigations may be a change in processes, procedures or training,” the alert said. “Operators should evaluate information collected through their safety management processes, identify hazards, increase and improve safety communications with employees and enact mitigations.”
Last week, the FAA held an impromptu safety summit to address whether changes should be made to American flight regulations. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during the March 15 summit that the country’s air system was skirting disaster.
“We can’t wait for the next catastrophic event when we can see the warning signs…
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