Op de Bok - januari 2013 - Vnv

the challenges authorities face, especially given the limited economic
resources and with performance-based rules picking up speed. Under
such a performance-based system it is even more important for national
CAAs to have all necessary resources at hand to continuously check and
safeguard the safety of air travel.
Save the date
22 Jan 2013: EU-wide walkout for safety
New EU Occurrence Reporting
Regulation – A move to proactively
prevent air accidents
European pilots welcome the new Occurrence Reporting
Regulation, presented in December by the European Commission,
as an important step towards better, pro-active prevention of air
accidents.
The new regulation icreates a comprehensive framework
for improving the quality and completeness of occurrence data and for
timely identification of safety hazards. It also provides for confidentiality of
certain information, which will encourage safety professionals, including
pilots, to report incidents and thereby ‘feed’ a forward-looking accident
prevention system across Europe.
“This regulation was an absolute necessity for a more efficient European
reporting system. It will shift the focus from a primarily ‘reactive’ system,
where we tried to learn from accidents, to a pro-active risk- and evidencebased
system”, said Nico Voorbach, ECA President. “This is excellent
news, and Europe’s pilots will be keen to contribute to making this new
system a success.”
“We used to learn many of our Safety lessons through investigating
accidents. Since they are thankfully decreasing, we have to learn more
from the smaller incidents. We encourage our pilots and all other aviation
professionals to voluntarily report and share their mishaps, so we all
can learn. This important regulation will create a stronger ‘Just Culture’
environment, in which safety incidents can be reported without fear of
personal repercussions, even if it is seen as whistleblowing” added Burkhart
Kaumanns, ECA Board Director for Technical Affairs. “The Commission
has it right: for aviation safety, the facts, the ‘what’ and ‘why’, are infinitely
much more important than the ‘who’.
The main objective of this new piece of legislation is to ensure that all
occurrences which endanger or could endanger aviation safety are
reported, properly collected and effectively analysed to provide a complete
and clear picture of aviation safety risks in the EU and its Member States.
It also aims at ensuring that all safety information, stored in the European
Common Repository, is accessed adequately by appropriate authorities
and used strictly for safety enhancement purposes.
safety decisions without pressure
from management. The anonymous
pilots’ testimonies further questioned
Ryanair’s employment practices. A
large chunk of pilots are not direct
employees of Ryanair but contract
workers employed through a broker
agency. Ryanair has briefly responded
calling the pilots’ claims “clearly false
and baseless accusations”.
To make 2013 a landmark for safety
in Europe, we need to improve how
we organize safety oversight. In this
issue of CN, you will read an article
concerning the worrying situation of
safety oversight in Europe today and
the challenges faced by national Civil
Aviation Authorities in performing their
obligations.
Finally, 2013 will be looking at how
to improve safety by learning through
better and thorough reporting and
investigation of accidents and incidents.
The European Commission has made
an important step towards better, proactive
prevention of air accidents with a
new legislative proposal on occurrence
reporting in civil aviation.
I wish you lots of happy and safe
landings in this historically safe 2013!
The European Cockpit Association is
the representative body of European
Pilots’ Associations. Based in Brussels,
ECA represents over 38.000 pilots from
across Europe.
For more information and to subscribe
to our monthly online newsletter: www.
eurocockpit.be
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Cockpit Association, All rights reserved.
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