The Edmonton Journal is reporting that "Transport Canada fears ending regular airline safety audits could be risky" in an article based on a March 2006 departmental risk assessment obtained through an Access to Information Act request. The Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon counters that the Safety Management System (SMS) actually increases oversight.
The only exposure I've had to the SMS was presented at Transport Canada safety seminar. Necessarily it could not be an in depth or exhaustive treatment of the subject, but none of it struck me as suitable to enforcing safety without cooperation from aviation companies. The safety audit system likely has problems as well, but I guess like the authors of the risk assessment I'm yet to be sold on SMS.
1 comment:
SMS is one of those things I have read about a few times and each time can't understand how it's going to work with operators.
705 airline operations are safe because the cost of a crash is so costly so it is in their best interests to put money into safety.
703 operators (not all buy a lot I am sure) will abuse the ability to keep it's own internal safety management and if left unaudited and to their own means will be less safe, doing what is required to fulfill paperwork obligations and not really fixing safety concerns.
Having worked for an operator that went bankrupt because of losing it's AOC after TC audited their practices, I can just imagine the things that would go unchecked by the lack of TC oversight.
On the other hand half of it is political, just keeping good paper work and playing the game. The fact that operators such as the one that crashed on Logan Avenue in Winnipeg tout themselves as being one of the safest in Canada because they are using SMS already.
They had lost I believe 3 airplanes and had fatalities and they still continue to operate under the same management which are the real problem in the first place.
Brutal :)
I do have hope though, that I will be retired in 25 years and out of it all and hopefully owning my own VLJ so safety lies in my hands and mine alone :)
Fly safe.
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