Article supplied by CASA
A new national safety education campaign backed by major aviation groups and aimed at encouraging pilots to increase their skills and knowledge launches today.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is working closely with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), Airservices Australia, Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), and industry bodies to enhance aviation safety through the ‘Your safety is in your hands’ campaign.
The new campaign encourages pilots to keep up to date with aviation safety developments, refresh their knowledge, invest in their ongoing development and, most importantly, stay safe.
CASA Chief Executive Officer and Director of Aviation Safety, Pip Spence, says the campaign was developed with input from pilots and using ATSB occurrence data.
“With the help from the ATSB, we’ve been able to build our campaign and safety topics based on accident and incident data. Each quarter we will focus on a new safety topic with information and online resources available through the new CASA pilot safety hub,” Ms Spence said.
The CASA pilot safety hub provides a range of safety resources and useful information including webinars, podcasts, videos and products to enhance pilot safety.
“Airservices Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) have also contributed to our campaign by providing information and resources on operating at controlled aerodromes and navigating weather and forecasting,” Ms Spence said.
“Aimed at the Australian pilot community, we’ve been working on a range of resources for local flying schools and industry associations to encourage their students and members to get involved.”
As part of the national safety education campaign, CASA is also working alongside industry associations including Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) and the Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) to help spread these important safety messages.
RAAus Chief Executive Officer, Matt Bouttell, says providing the piloting community a resource hub for topics that affect all pilots when flying is invaluable.
“Having safety information and useful resources on-hand in the one place is an asset to our members and the wider piloting community,” he said.
AHIA Chief Executive, Paul Tyrell, said that they supported the campaign and would be looking at how to encourage their members to engage and think about aviation safety.
“Helicopter pilots face similar risks to traditional fixed wing pilots, and we welcome any activity or initiative to encourage pilots no matter what their aircraft type to think about safety.”
For more information about the ‘Your safety is in your hands’ campaign visit the CASA pilot safety hub – casa.gov.au/pilots.