Flight Safety Foundation has launched a new website <www.fsfgsip.org> in support of its Global Safety Information Project (GSIP). The website features details about the ongoing project, answers to frequently asked questions about GSIP, news and press releases related to the effort, as well as resources and contact information. The website was developed by longtime Foundation vendor Unconformity, under the direction of Director of Communications Emily McGee and Mark Millam, vice president, technical, at the Foundation, who is leading the GSIP effort.
GSIP is a first-of-its-kind project that is gathering information about safety data collection, processing and sharing programs in the Pan America and Asia Pacific regions. Among the objectives of the project is identifying how entities collect data, learning how the data is processed and understanding how the results of collection and processing are applied to promote aviation safety.
Much of the initial information gathering was through a series of 12 full-day focus group sessions conducted in locations across the targeted regions. Focus groups were held in Wellington, New Zealand; Sydney; Singapore; Mexico City; Panama City; Tokyo; Hong Kong; New Delhi; Lima, Peru; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; São Paulo; and Kingston, Jamaica. The sessions involved stakeholders from across the aviation spectrum, including airlines, business aviation operators, regulators, accident investigation entities, airports, labor groups, air navigation service providers, and legal experts.
Now that focus groups have been completed, the GSIP emphasis will change to analyzing the information gathered, supplementing it with further independent research into existing safety data collection and process systems (SDCPS) and regulatory guidance or requirements around such systems. The information will help Millam and others working on GSIP to begin formulating strategies for next steps, and to begin planning a series of at least 10 workshops that will be held in Asia Pacific and Pan America beginning late in the first quarter of 2016. Future project activities also will include development of globally focused tool kits to be used by states to implement and enhance voluntary safety reporting programs that include protections against the misuse of aviation safety data.
Generous Donation
The Foundation recently received a generous bequest in the form of a stock donation from the estate of the late Manette Speas. Mrs. Speas was the wife of the late R. Dixon Speas Jr., a well-known aviation consultant who was a corporate member of the Foundation and served on its Board of Governors. Mr. Speas, who died in 1998, served on the boards of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, the Society of Automatic Engineers and The Wings Club and was a friend of Foundation founder Jerome F. Lederer. Mrs. Speas was an active supporter of her husband’s career and his passion for aviation safety. Her wish was that the donation be used “to promote aviation safety.”