Safety Campaign – Learning from others

Over the past year, COPA has been working with Transport Canada (TC) on the General Aviation Safety Campaign (GASC), aimed at improving safety among GA pilots through accident data-driven new tools in areas of training, technology, and safety culture. At Oshkosh in 2017, we met representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who, for the past 20 years, have collaborated with industry in a similar fashion through the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC). Through this government/industry partnership, stakeholders come up with new, innovative Safety Enhancements to address specific issues related to GA safety. Often, these are the result of data analysis from National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reports and are adopted and promoted as voluntary means to ensure safer GA aircraft. The success of this model lies in the co-participation of government and industry and, supported by accident data, pursues its objectives with the goal of regulation as a last resort. We are encouraged at TC’s willingness to adopt a similar model here in Canada, one that we hope will make it easier for GA pilots to be safer. Whether it is access to better training, easier routes to installing and using new technology in the cockpit, or encouraging each other as GA pilots to take a renewed safety-focused analysis of ourselves each time we fly.

As part of the campaign, officials at TC have reviewed Canadian accident data from TSB reports going back to 2014 and applied the standard classification categories adopted by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team/ICAO Common Taxonomy Team, known as the CICTT. Their review of the data for fatal GA accidents in that period (42) shows us that, removing unknown causes or where causes could not be determined, the top five generators of fatal accidents are Loss of Control – Inflight (11), Low Altitude Operations (3), and “System/Component Failure of Malfunction [Powerplant]” (3), otherwise known as a non-fuel-related engine failure. This March issue, which we are establishing as our annual “Safety Edition”, will focus on some of the safety topics that arise from the GA Safety Campaign or our collaboration with our American counterparts but mostly, the articles in this year’s safety edition are written by many of our Safety Campaign partners and reflect a variety of topics at the top of the priority list for the GASC across the country.

COPA’s Board of Directors

Aside from the Safety Campaign and its role in this month’s magazine, we are also excited to present the biographies of the candidates who have put themselves forward for consideration in this year’s elections for the Board of Directors. We are currently holding elections for two spots in BC and Yukon, two spots in Quebec, and three spots in Southern Ontario. Competing for those seven spots are 21 candidates – a record in our 66-year history. We sincerely thank those Board members not seeking re-election for their dedication and contributions to COPA, and we look forward to welcoming the new ideas and fresh perspectives the new board members will bring to our organization.