Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt stressed the importance of a strong safety culture, living the company’s core values and providing strong safety leadership as flight operations strive to meet their customers’ expectations. Speaking Thursday before the Bombardier Safety Standdown in Wichita, Sumwalt highlighted numerous accidents—from the May 2014 Gulfstream IV-SP crash in Bedford, Massachusetts,&nbsp;where the flight operation was IS-BAO 2 registered but the experienced crew did not complete checklists, to the November 2015 Hawker 700A crash in Akron, Ohio, where procedures were not followed and crew not properly vetted—and asked if operators were providing what customers truly deserved.

 


He argued that there sometimes is a disconnect between the customers' safety expectations and what they are actually getting.

 


He urged the Safety Standdown audience to ask themselves if they have implemented a strong safety culture. He also challenged them to continually strive for such a culture culture rather than believe they have attained it. “We must never get too comfortable,” Sumwalt said.

 


He also questioned whether organizations are really living their values. Most will espouse priorities, placing safety on top, he said. But priorities change—core values shouldn’t. Safety needs to be a value, not a priority, he said. Sumwalt places such an importance on values that, after stepping in as chairman, he immediately assembled a team to develop values for the NTSB.

 


He pointed to CVS as an example of living values. A few years ago, CVS eliminated sale of cigarettes, saying it was incongruous with the company’s mission of wellness. That raised Wall Street predictions that the organization would incur a $2 billion loss as a result. But in the intervening time, profits have increased 10 percent and stock value soared 40 percent.

 


As for safety leadership, Sumwalt stressed the need for an alignment between employees and management. Management often will emphasize safety, but might not practice it. This will filter down throughout the organization, he said. Sumwalt pointed to NTSB’s investigations of five accidents at the Metro-North railroad during a 10-month period. NTSB surveys revealed that management there believed more strongly that the railroad had an appropriate safety culture than labor believed, Sumwalt said. The agency further found that train drivers were frequently speeding to keep up with time pressures placed on them.

 


Sumwalt, who attended last year’s Safety Standdown, noted that at the time he expected it to be his last as a Safety Board member. He had agreed to stay beyond his expired term to ensure the NTSB had an adequate number of board members. But early last year the White House called and asked him not only to stay on, but move into the leadership role on the board. Sumwalt was later confirmed and officially sworn in on August 10.

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

Sumwalt Highlights Living Values, Safety Leaders

Sumwalt challenged attendees at Safety Standdown to assess whether they are providing a safety environment that their customers truly deserve.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

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Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

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News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

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News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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