SAFETY IN A CHANGING WORLD
2020 has certainly presented its fair share of challenges for our community. From the tragic Australian bushfires early in the new year, to the global pandemic that continues to change the way we operate within our everyday lives. Like many businesses, these challenges have forced RAAus to adapt in order to protect not only our staff, but our entire membership, as we continue to adjust to our new way of life.
One thing that hasn’t changed is RAAus’ commitment to safety; a culture that extends from our CEO, through each and every member, maintainer and flight training school and down to members of the public that are exposed to our aviation community. I would like to thank our members for the continued support they have provided to RAAus during these difficult times but also for the continued vigilance in prioritising safety prior to and throughout the duration of each and every flight. The current landscape reinforces the importance for pilots to review their operating environment, assess conditions, and to ensure that they continue to stay within their personal limits before operating an aircraft. This may mean pilots elect not to fly on any given day due to weather, or it may mean that they seek a check flight with an instructor prior to operating. It may also mean that additional pre-flight checks are required on an aircraft after being inoperable for some time. This may include replacing fuel, oil or charging the battery. While each of these considerations may not seem like a big task, the result is improved safety for everyone.
RAAus continues to focus on new ways to promote safety to our members. Over the past 12 months, we have created three editions of our Licence to Learn safety magazine, restructured the safety space on our website and continue to share data derived from occurrences submitted to our occurrence management system. Our reporting culture continues to grow, allowing the identification of important safety trends and creation of safety information for members. I would like to remind members that RAAus maintains an open and fair reporting culture and that failure to report an occurrence deprives other members of the opportunity to learn.
Common feedback received by members is the demand for greater visibility of occurrence outcomes as learning opportunities for other pilots. As many members are aware, RAAus has restrictions as to what information may be shared following a serious or fatal accident, however we continue to focus on ways to improve transparency of accident outcomes. Within our latest edition of Licence to Learn, I have included several occurrence summaries which offer learning opportunities for members whilst offering an insight into the extensive work completed by the RAAus team in reviewing and investigating occurrences. I would like to also remind members that whilst much of our safety correspondence may not directly reference a particular occurrence, this material is always relevant to previous occurrence findings for the safety of all members. Watch this space as we continue to improve how we communicate important safety information to members. As always, additional safety and reporting information, statistics, and occurrence reviews are available in the safety section of the member portal or by going to safety.raaus.com.au.
Safe Flying!
