A Partnership for Safety

Many people wonder why we work so hard to improve aviation safety when aviation is already one of the safest industries in the world. The simple truth is that aviation is safe because we make it that way. Every day we must look for emerging problems and eliminate them before small problems grow into major tragedies. This work is endless. New methods of data analysis have to be developed. New risk-reduction strategies have to be implemented, and the dedicated professionals who make the system safe must be supported. This is difficult work, and we are glad that we do not have to do it alone.

Through hard work, the aviation industry has cut the accident rate in half during the last decade. That is a great accomplishment but there is little opportunity to celebrate. If we look closely at the statistics we see a disturbing fact. The improvements have been realized on the first half of the decade. Almost no improvement has been realized during the past 5 years.

We have to ask ourselves, "Is this the beginning of a downturn in safety?" Have all the improvements already been realized, and as traffic increases, are we destined to see more accidents every week? We can be proud of what we have done, but now is not the time to rest.

Through our new partnership with the Fondazione 8 ottobre 2001, we will be hosting an important seminar addressing these issues. It will be the Flight Safety Foundation's 63rd annual safety seminar, and it will be held in Milan on 1-3 November. I hope you will join us at this important seminar where the leading experts in aviation safety from around the world come together to share information and plan the way forward towards safety skies.

from William R. Voss