One message that came through loud and clear during the Foundation’s 71st annual International Air Safety Summit (IASS) in Seattle was that the aviation community needs to do a better job of implementing the safety recommendations and risk mitigations that result from accident and incident investigations. And, unfairly or not, much of the responsibility was laid at the feet of regulators.
Perhaps the most adamant of the speakers who addressed the issue was Kathy Fox, chair of Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB). She said that 20 years after the crash of Swissair Flight 111, many of the 23 recommendations that came out of the largest and longest investigation in TSB history have been implemented — and have changed aviation safety. But she also pointed out that there is still work to be done. Of the 23 recommendations, the implementation of nine has been assessed as “fully satisfactory”; another nine have been assessed as “satisfactory in part”; two are “satisfa…
