Each year, the Bombardier Safety Standdown brings aviation safety leaders together to fulfill the conference mission: Learn. Apply. Share. This important safety event champions excellence and continuous improvement in aviation safety, and helps leadership and operators maintain safety as a core value and prevent erosion. This year, presenters outdid themselves with motivating and valuable presentations on this year’s theme: Elevate Your Influence.
NOTE: Bombardier graciously makes key main presentations and several workshops available to watch for free here: https://safetystanddown.com/en/webcast-2024
Never Settle for “Good Enough”
Tony Kern kicked off the event using clips of incredible unexpected moments in sports to show how critical it is to strive for excellence and never stop improving your game. He cautions that the risk we end up having to face will never be the one we expected, so the only way to prepare is to continuously improve and go well beyond industry standards to become the absolute best we can be.
His remarks set the stage perfectly for the workshops that offered practical guidance for pilots and flight departments to elevate their influence and achieve excellence in safety and preparedness. Here are three key actionable takeaways from the event:
- Transform Flight Path Management
APS Director of Flight Ops Norm ‘DQ’ Dequier challenged pilots to elevate their expertise in order to be prepared for an unexpected in-flight upset situation in his workshop detailing flight path management and Loss of Control In-flight risk escalation. Because the skills necessary to recover from an airplane upset are often counterintuitive, pilots often freeze up or do the opposite of what is needed to recover. Moreover, practicing these recovery skills builds mental models that improve awareness and allow pilots to recognize and prevent an upset before it evolves. These skills, gained through a properly delivered Upset Prevention & Recovery Training (UPRT) program, allow pilots to gain added expertise that empowers them to be much more effective and resilient in unanticipated, time-critical situations that could develop when we least expect them.
- Avoid Dangerous Mistakes — But Learn from Them if They Occur
What is a quality escape, and how can we avoid it? Leonard Beauchemin discussed this topic in depth, challenging pilots not to be a victim or enabler of quality escapes that could compromise operations.
Additionally, in her presentation titled “Into the Danger Zone: Strategic Risk Management Explored,” Amanda Ferraro walked us through a safety hazard that was allowed to persist due to several events and choices that eventually caught the eye of the FAA. The circumstances that allowed this safety issue provide an eye-opening reminder of how much the little things matter in maintaining the integrity of our safety system and how easily some aspects of safety can become lax over time.
Erika Armstrong’s workshop, “Training Beyond the Mistake: Thinking about the Unthinkable,” explored various system failures, emphasizing strategies for responding effectively when mistakes occur and, more importantly, how to prevent them and prepare so that we can better handle them when they occur in real-time. Through engaging and memorable delivery, she offered practical tips for mistake prevention and readiness, such as the insightful recommendation to “become schizophrenic,” a metaphorical approach to encourage pilots to adopt multiple perspectives, heighten awareness and practice verbalizing thought processes to navigate complex scenarios more effectively.
- Evaluate Your Safety Culture and SMS
We are the safest when safety is an ingrained part of our culture, and when safety processes are an ingrained part of our everyday operations. We were challenged in this event by Kent Stauffer, who asked us to really think about and analyze the way we talk about safety, and the effectiveness and implications of how we do that.
Jason R. Starke helped us understand how we measure safety culture, a critical aspect of the quality of our flight operations. Additionally, Amanda Ferraro outlined critical SMS components and challenged us to ensure a thorough and effective SMS to guide our safety processes.
Because aviation has an exemplary safety track record, we may grow complacent or feel that we are now good enough. However, a pristine safety record does not in and of itself guarantee we will remain safe. By creating a dynamic safety management system that pervades our organization with a strong safety culture, we help ensure that we keep our eye on the ball, and that we are as ready as we can be for something unexpected.
Bonus Takeaway
We’re willing to bet this subject is a takeaway from every conference in any field for the past six months and for the foreseeable future. Aviation is no exception, we have to get on board with AI. Dr James Norman presented insightful information on possible uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) during his presentation, “You can’t spell aviation without ‘AI’: A survey of the Current Landscape.” During his presentation he highlighted the potential for AI to become a powerful tool towards elevating safety culture by its ability to rapidly and continuously scan data to become more predictive of potential threats rather than reactive to them. Every flight organization must develop a strategy to stay informed about advancements in AI and explore ways to integrate it into operations to improve safety and efficiency.
While this summary only scratches the surface of the remarkable presentations, these highlights showcase valuable ideas to advance safety and keep it at the forefront. We encourage you and your team to explore the available sessions and make continuous safety improvement a cornerstone of your culture.
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