May 2014
Featured in this insight: Transport & infrastructure, International
Survey – Canada’s aviation inspectors concerned about aviation safety: A survey conducted on behalf of the Canadian Federal Pilots Association (CFPA), indicates that two thirds (67%) of Canadian aviation inspectors believe the current system increases the risk of a major aviation accident, up from three fifths (61%) in 2007.
The concern comes during cuts to Transport Canada that mean inspectors are spending more time overseeing paperwork, and subsequently less time inspecting airplanes and airline safety systems.
Since 2008, the federal department has required air operators whose planes carry twenty or more passengers to develop their own, in-house, Safety Management Systems (SMS). The CFPA expressed concerns about the SMS approach when it was first introduced.
A separate, yet similar 2007 survey, found that three quarters (74%) of inspectors expected a major aviation accident or incident in the near future. Now, more than four fifths (84%) of inspectors expect such an accident.
Daniel Slunder, president of the CFPA, said:
“We’ve already seen the major accident inspectors feared when a First Air jet crashed in Nunavut in 2011. The next crash could be in Toronto or some other major Canadian city.”
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