Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) chairman Todd Weeber underscored the evolution of safety culture in aviation, noting at the kickoff of the ACSF Safety Symposium on Monday that what has once been looked at as a cost line item is now part of the fabric of how they conduct business. Weeber, who is COO of Magellan Jets, said, “We had to go fight for training, we had to fight for stuff,” but now, he told attendees, “you are at the epicenter of excellent behavior.”
The symposium, which runs through Wednesday, features nearly a dozen sessions on various aspects of aviation safety from managing the C-Suite to pilot mental health, as well as a presentation from Gen. (Ret.) Lloyd “Fig” Newton on developing a sustainable aviation safety culture. This year’s event also held a panel on breaking into business aviation for students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, host of the event.
Opening the first full day of the symposium’s programs on Tuesday, Weeber further noted that ACSF membership has topped 300 and the foundation now has 225 companies representing 278 certifications participating in its Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP)—a voluntary safety event reporting program. “That’s 65 percent of total ASAP participants nationwide, including all airlines,” Weeber said, adding this results in 30 event review committee meetings a month. “Every month,” he emphasized. “That’s a pretty fierce pace. There’s no excuse why every charter operator of flight departments in this room shouldn’t be participating in ASAP.”
He added that the foundation is building on that with the flight data monitoring program and noted that, further, it is hoping to encourage safety management systems through a demystifying workshop planned on Wednesday.
These safety approaches, he added, “will get you reorders, renewals, and referrals. A systematic approach to safety equals a systematic approach to culture equals a systematic approach to behavior and a systematic approach to three yards.”
The other message he gave to attendees is that aviation students today are the first group “to be inaugurated into what I call the era of completely insane change. Is anyone in here a little uneasy about all the automation, all the regulatory changes, and all the support or lack thereof that we're all experiencing right now? Did you know that the systematic approach to behavior will also generate a culture that can tolerate rapid change?”
As for the foundation, Weeber said it has new strategies surrounding outreach, collaboration, and partnerships with academia and industry.
