“The aviation industry should not allow concerns over security to detract from efforts to improve aviation safety,” said Stuart Matthews, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, setting the tone of the 48th Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar held in late April in Hollywood, Fla. Citing security measures that have been implemented or proposed since 9/11, Matthews said, “Important though security is, nothing on the safety front has changed, and it is important that there should be no relaxation of the safety defenses built up over many years. We can’t afford a safety problem on top of everything else.” Some 325 people attended the annual meeting, which was sponsored by FSF and NBAA.
According to Matthews, one of FSF’s ongoing safety initiatives is an effort to keep judicial proceedings from impeding the technical investigation of accidents. “We have seen, in some cases, the threat of criminal prosecution of those involved before the investigation [by aviation safety authorities] has even begun,” Matthews said. “There’s a tendency of some local prosecutors to run out and grab the first person they see–usually the pilot–and say, ‘You’re responsible for this accident.’ This sort of thing is impeding accident investigations. If you can’t find out what went wrong, you can’t do anything to fix it.”
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