For those of you who have attended any or all of our three main seminars, International Air Safety Seminar (IASS), European Aviation Safety Seminar (EASS) and our Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar — now re-branded as Business Aviation Safety Seminar (BASS) — I want to thank you! For those who haven’t, I would like to encourage you to do so. Why, you ask, would I want to attend when my budget is limited and I have other required seminars and summits to attend?
Well, over the past year-and-a-half, since our IASS in Milan, Italy, the Foundation staff began to make some subtle changes to the seminars in response to your feedback. Some of those changes include better check-in at the Foundation registration desk; the re-introduction of panel presentations; questions, comments and answers at the end of a speaker’s presentation; and timely keynote speakers such as Capt. Richard de Crespigny, whose topic was the Qantas Flight 32 catastrophic engine failure and landing (see, “After Shock”). We have also decided to site the seminars in cities with greater nonstop flight possibilities to cut down on the need for connecting flights.
In the future, we want to add more social media interaction, speakers who have cutting edge topics not yet considered and possibly a debate. Our format has always been one of the hallmarks of the Foundation seminars, and we intend to build on that successful reputation. Many of you do not know that we have specific committees convening for each seminar to vet papers submitted for presentation. This ensures that we have quality topics to present. One way to look at a Flight Safety Foundation seminar is that we provide a “deep dive” into safety-related topics. We are not there to sell or promote products. We are there to provide information that you can use, and potentially apply to your situation.
All that being said, we are going to shake up our seminars somewhat. First, we will change the names in 2013 to International Aviation Safety Summit and Business Aviation Safety Summit. The reason for “Summit” instead of “Seminar” is that we are going to launch a new set of meetings called Regional Aviation Safety Seminars (RASS). The two large summits will be the showcases for the deep dive into aviation safety in general and in business aviation safety. The regional aviation seminars will focus on issues that pertain to specific regions of the world, with presentations, instruction and vendor breakout presentations. We successfully completed a partnership RASS in Bali, Indonesia, this past May, with the International Civil Aviation Organization and with the mineral and mining industry participating. It succeeded largely because it was within a region and it had take-away information that could be immediately used by the participants. Each RASS will last for no more than a day-and-a-half, depending on the topics. RASS topics will change, depending on the region and its needs. For 2013, we are planning at least two regional seminars.
You may have noticed that I did not mention the EASS for 2013. Unfortunately, due to the economic conditions in Europe, we are going to put the EASS on hold. Once the European economies grow stronger, we will re-evaluate the need, and when that happens, a RASS-E (Regional Aviation Safety Seminar–Europe) may be scheduled.
We realize that attending a summit or seminar is a large expense of your time and funds. Our goal is to make the Foundation summits and seminars well worth that investment in safety knowledge for your situation!