Virgin Australia and Boeing Leaders Appointed to Flight Safety Foundation’s Australia Board

MELBOURNE, Australia — Flight Safety Foundation has appointed Virgin Australia Chief Operations Officer Stuart Aggs and Boeing Product & Services Safety and Global Regulatory Strategist Dr. Reece Clothier to the Flight Safety Foundation Ltd (BARS Program) Board of Directors.

The Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Program, which is based in Melbourne, is an award-winning worldwide audit program supporting the resource sector along with humanitarian, government and insurance organizations in their oversight of contracted aviation activities.

Flight Safety Foundation President and CEO Dr. Hassan Shahidi said the appointments of Aggs and Clothier highlighted the importance of the foundation’s work and commitment to the industry.

“Mr. Aggs and Dr. Clothier hold a wealth of knowledge and we are pleased they have joined the Board of Flight Safety Foundation in Australia,” Shahidi said. “Both come from major aviation and aerospace industry organizations, and are two of Autstralia’s experienced aviation industry professionals, which furthers the Foundation’s aim of promoting air safety.”

Aggs joined Virgin Australia in 2004. He has held several leadership roles over two decades, spanning compliance and regulation, safety, and flight operations, including Director of Group Flight Operations. He was appointed chief operations officer in September 2019.

Clothier is internationally recognized as an expert in the fields of design, safety, certification, and regulation of complex and autonomous systems, in particular, remote piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). He holds a Bachelor engineering degree and PhD in aerospace avionics.

BARS Program Director David Anderson said the new board members would add a host of skills and expertise to the Foundation’s Programs, including Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) as they become more widely used.

“We believe it is important to keep up with the fast-paced technological environment the aviation and aerospace industries operate in. With Mr. Aggs and Dr. Clothier onboard, we are well-equipped to respond to the challenges we face,” Anderson said.

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For more information, please contact Amy Beveridge, BARS Program, beveridge@flightsafety.org

About Flight Safety Foundation  and the Basic Aviation Risk Standard Program
Flight Safety Foundation is an independent, international, and impartial non-profit that exists to champion the cause of aviation safety. The Foundation established the Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Program in 2010 to review aviation operators providing aviation services to the resources and other sectors. The BARS Program is made up of a suite of risk-based aviation industry standards with supporting implementation guidelines.  

The BARS Program has operated for 12 years, with more than 1120 audits in 45 different countries for more than 235 aircraft operators. As a result, about 281 000 questions have been asked as part of our structured audits, identifying some 18 000 non-conformities. Find out more about FSF at their website: www.flightsafety.org.