(MENAFNEditorial)
42nd Aircraft Engineers International Congress Paris France
November 5th-8th 2014
2014 has been a tragic year for aviation with the loss of hundreds of lives in seventeen separate incidents attributed to an unwarranted military strike possible terrorism pilot error aircraft malfunction controlled flight into terrain and one aircraft still remains missing. Yet despite these disastrous circumstances aviation remains the safest form of mass transport in the world why?
Quite simply due to the strict regulatory environment and constant oversight performed by independent government funded national aviation authorities.
There can be no mistaking the direct relationship between the decreasing number of accidents and the level of regulatory oversight. Lessons have been learned from every single aircraft accident and where necessary those lessons have resulted in a new or amended regulation with the sole aim of enhancing safety. The results of which is there for all to see. Aviation has transformed itself from its early uncontrolled and unsafe environment to become the safest mode of transport in use today. The independent regulatory oversight system functioned extremely well until now.
The 42nd AEI Annual Conference will debate serious concerns that many governments following the global financial crisis chose to follow a path of austerity which is now about to reach aviation. Commercial aviation in particular despite the abundance of evidence suggesting that safety will suffer is about to benefit from a relaxation of the regulations. Proper governmental oversight of civil aviation has been deemed too expensive and therefore must be relaxed. More and more responsibility is being transferred from regulators to commercial airlines. Drawing parallels with the prison service the move is akin to handing the keys over to inmates.
Airlines are of course integral to every nation’s national interest but it is also in their national interest to ensure those airlines remain safe and incident free. The aviation industry will have to face the consequences of more fatal accidents and serious incidents if regulators continue to create a regulatory environment where airline management are allowed to follow a policy of profit at any price. Regulators must ensure they do not relax regulations or defer critical oversight activities for the sake of company profits or to ease the pressure on underfunded National Aviation Authorities.
It is AEI’s view that now is not the time to move towards more self-regulation but rather ensure aviation remains at its safest by continuing along the well-trodden path that made aviation the safest mode of transport. To maintain such a status aviation on a global basis requires regulators to return to strict governance whilst airlines must adopt a more sensible approach which unequivocally places safety before profit.
AEI says “NO” to profiteering and “NO” to self-regulation.
For more information go to: www.airengineers.org/safety_at_risk?
AEI Post Box 5
Tel: +31 655 930 175
2450 AA Leimuiden Netherlands
www.airengineers.org
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