Call for Nominations for 2017 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation and Flight Safety Foundation are now accepting nominations for the 2017 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award, honoring a leader in aviation safety. The award will be presented during the Flight Safety Foundation’s 70th annual International Air Safety Summit, scheduled for Oct. 23-25 in Dublin, Ireland.

Presented since 1956, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award recognizes notable achievement in the field of civil or military aviation safety in method, design, invention, study or other improvement. The award’s recipient is selected for a “significant individual or group effort contributing to improving aviation safety, with emphasis on original contributions,” and a “significant individual or group effort performed above and beyond normal responsibilities.”

Mechanics, engineers and others outside of top administrative or research positions should be especially considered. The contribution need not be recent, especially if the nominee has not received adequate recognition. Nominations that were not selected as past winners of the award can be submitted one additional time for consideration. Please note that self-nominations will not be considered.

The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award’s story dates back 70 years. On April 14, 1945, after visiting family in Pittsburgh, Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 when it crashed into the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, West Virginia. All passengers and crew were killed. In the years following, her husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour and son, Clifford E. Barbour, Jr., established the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award in her honor.

The Award Board, composed of leaders in the field of aviation, meets in June of each year to conduct a final review of nominees and selection of the current year’s recipient.

Please help us honor this year’s most deserving recipient. Nominations, including a 1-2-page narrative, can be submitted via the Laura Taber Barbour Foundation website at http://ltbaward.org/the-award/nomination-form/.

Nominations will be accepted until June 14, 2017.

For more information, including a complete history of Award recipients, see www.ltbaward.com.

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ABOUT THE LAURA TABER BARBOUR AIR SAFETY AWARD: The award was established in 1956 through early association with the Flight Safety Foundation and from its founding has enjoyed a rich history of Award Board members, nominees and award recipients. In 2013, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed from members of the Award Board, the aviation community and the Barbour family. As the foundation plans to broaden the scope of its intent, with great purpose, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award will continue to spotlight those champions who pioneer breakthroughs in flight safety.

CONTACT: Philip Barbour, 205-939-1700, 205-617-9007