Alexandria, VA – The Flight Safety Foundation announced today the creation of its new Legal Advisory Committee (LAC). The committee will be composed of leading plaintiff and defense accident lawyers, regulators, and airline/aerospace counsel throughout the world, including FSF General Counsel, Ken Quinn.
“The formation of the Legal Advisory Committee (LAC) at the Flight Safety Foundation should be a positive step forward in the effort to address legal issues that impact safety, especially our ongoing work to protect safety information data,” stated Kevin Hiatt, President and CEO of FSF. “Collection and analysis of data, and then the sharing of meaningful safety and operational information are the future of safety in aviation.”
“It’s become readily apparent that legal regimes are lagging far behind in protecting an ever-increasing amount safety information that is being gathered, shared, and analyzed, which is critical to saving lives,” Quinn noted in remarks at the 4th Pan American Aviation Safety Summit In San Jose, Costa Rica. “The global aviation bar needs to work together far more closely and urgently to ensure that information gathered for safety reasons is used solely for safety-related purposes, absent evidence of gross negligence or willful misconduct.”
The new FSF initiative comes in the wake of the recent conclusion of the ICAO Task Force on Safety Information Protection, which Quinn served as Vice Chair, along with Australia’s CASA’s Jonathan Aleck, who has agreed to serve on the Committee. Their recommendations are now under final ICAO review.
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Flight Safety Foundation (www.flightsafetstg.wpenginepowered.com) is an independent, non-profit, international organization engaged in research, education, advocacy and publishing to improve aviation safety. The Foundation’s mission is to be the leading voice of safety for the global aerospace community.
Contact: Emily McGee, Director of Communications, +1 703 739 6700, ext 126; mcgee@webdeva.flightsafety.org
