FAA HOLDS AVIATION SAFETY SUMMIT
April 19, 2023
On March 15, 2023, FAA held an emergency aviation safety summit to discuss ways to improve flight safety in the U.S. in response to several recent safety issues including at least six near-miss collisions by aircraft at different U.S. airports. This included breakout sessions on commercial operations, the air traffic system, airport and ground operations, and general aviation operations. Industry groups and FAA subject matter experts were tasked with reviewing recent safety incidents to try to identify ways to address areas where the existing safety system could be improved to prevent future incidents. Each group put forth ideas for improving safety such as working on the effective implementation of Safety Management Systems at the 200 busiest airports to comply with FAA’s recently published final rule on SMS programs, and working towards creating more efficient methods for sharing safety information in near real-time and between all aviation industry groups. After the summit, FAA also noted that discussions also helped to pinpoint some of the root causes for recent incidents like overstressed and/or overworked pilots and flight attendants, lack of workforce experience, and issues with air traffic control technology.
During the summit, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”), the agency tasked with investigating civil aviation accidents, also voiced concern that FAA has not been quick enough in its actions to address safety issues, citing the safety recommendations NTSB has made over the years that FAA has not acted on. For example, according to the NTSB chair, the agency made a recommendation 23 years ago that the FAA work to implement cockpit equipment to notify pilots of potential runway hazards, which FAA has until this point allegedly declined to implement.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6622) or Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com 202-659-6665).
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