The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Air Transport Association (ATA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held its 4th Annual International Aviation Safety Forum outside Washington, DC, Nov. 28-30, at which participants from around the world pledged to implement Safety Management Systems, a systematic approach to managing risks associated with commercial aviation.

Acting Federal Aviation Administrator Robert A. Sturgell said: “the question for us in aviation is how to maintain the safety record that’s the envy of all transportation. How are we going to raise the bar? The answer is SMS — safety management systems.

“Aviation no longer is in the business of combing through ashes and wreckage to find answers. SMS will give us the intelligence we need before the problem reaches the headlines. When it comes to risks, the low-hanging fruit is long gone. SMS uses hard data to point us in the direction we need to go. We don’t have to wait for something bad to happen,” he added.

In the United States, fatal air carrier accidents have dropped 65 percent since 1996. That works out to one fatal for every 4.5 million departures. Internationally, the numbers are dropping as well. But from an international perspective, accident rates vary considerably, with some regions doing well and some not so well.

“So, the point is that collectively, we all still need to take a step up,” said the head of the U.S. aviation agency. “The safety management system approach will enable us to do that. Ultimately, we don’t want to just meet ICAO minimums. Ultimately, our goal is to raise the bar worldwide no matter where you go.

“At its most fundamental level, a safety management system helps organizations identify and manage risk. It does not wait for something to happen. It doesn’t rely on anecdotal information. It is based on hard data. Safety management systems help us manage risk far better than we have, because it’s a disciplined and standardized approach to managing risk. We can review past experience and address known hazards at the same time we can look ahead and rigorously apply safety risk management.

“At the very core of the SMS is the need to identify potential hazards and then analyze risk. After that, the next steps are to rank hazards and assess risk, and then identify mitigation options. It’s a closed-loop process where identified risks are mitigated and the mitigations are monitored to provide continuous system safety,” Sturgell noted.

He said the FAA’s recent Call to Action for runway safety is an example of using SMS principles. A string of events pointed to a problem with U.S. runways. They involved a variety of factors — miscommunications, missed turns on taxiways, a snowplow, missed turns onto an active runway, signage.

“When we issued our Call to Action, we looked at 5.4 million records covering a 20-year period. We found 117 isolated instances of flight crew confusion here in the United States involving a variety of issues. Our Call to Action is addressing these issues as we speak. Short-term action such as enhancing runway markings and improving pilot training are already under way,” he added.

On the other hand, IATA warned the world’s airlines of a severe pilot shortage unless industry and government work together to change training and qualification practices.

IATA issued a new estimate that the industry may need 17,000 new pilots annually due to expected industry growth and retirements.

“Increasing the retirement age to 65 will help, but it can’t be the only solution. It’s time to ring the warning bell. We must re-think pilot training and qualification to further improve safety and increase training capacity,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA Director General and CEO. “The industry is concerned that there are no global standards for training concepts or regulation. Pilot training has not changed in 60 years – we are still ticking boxes with an emphasis on flight hours.”

IATA supports the competency-based approach of multi-crew pilot licensing (MPL) training programs. Unlike traditional pilot training, MPL focuses from the beginning on training for multi-pilot cockpit working conditions. It also makes better use of simulator technology. Europe was among the first regions to adopt MPL and Australia and China are moving ahead with implementation.

IATA launched the IATA Training and Qualification Initiative (ITQI) to support a global approach to MPL implementation. “Our goal is to increase the pool of candidates and training capacity while improving standards,” said Bisignani. As part of ITQI, IATA will host a database to track the progress of MPL cadets and allow the industry to make training adjustments, if necessary. IATA also called for greater cooperation with governments. In China, IATA is working with the government to develop the syllabus and incorporate MPL into national regulation.

Bisignani also called on government leaders at the Safety Forum to incorporate the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) into their own regulations. Most recently, Mexico, Costa Rica and Turkey have committed to make use of IOSA. “The list is growing too slowly,” Bisignani said. “There is no cost to government and the results are clear.”