Blog Archives
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GAO Faults FAA And NTSB On Ramp Safety Data
By John Goglia - Monday April 30, 2012
It will certainly come as no surprise to readers of this blog that government agencies do not give ramp areas the same level of attention to safety they give to airline operations, maintenance or other areas of an airport, such as runways and taxiways. Some may be happy to leave the Federal Aviation Administration or National Transportation Safety Board out of their ramp business and do not want a safety spotlight shined on ramp activities. I know I might have felt that way myself when I ran my FBO. But my years on the NTSB convinced me that this lack of official attention can also foster a lack of respect for the critical safety impact of ramp functions. In addition, ramp incidents and accidents are very costly and analysis of incident... -
FAA 2012 Safety Stand Down
By Ronald Donner - Thursday April 26, 2012
This year’s FAA Safety Stand Down (2012 SSD), with a focus on Loss of Control is currently taking place around the country at a location near you. I participated in my local area’s SSD on a recent Saturday morning which was hosted by the local FAASTeam and held at Exclusive Aviation in St. Paul, MN. Close to 100 people were in attendance. The SSD was a news reporter and interview style format projected on a large screen in the Exclusive Aviation hangar. Dr. Katrina Avers, an FAA employee at the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) located in Oklahoma City, interview several people remotely along with having a panel of three safety experts with her. From the FAA… Loss of Control-Inflight was the dominant cause of fatal general... -
Travel Stories
By Ralph Hood - Wednesday April 25, 2012During the last eight days I made speeches in Columbus,GA; Sidney, OH, andTerre Haute, IN. I drove to Columbus (will I never learn?) and flew airlines to Dayton,OH and Indianapolis, IN. All three trips went well. Flights were pretty much on time, airports comfortable and service was both good and friendly (except for one grumpy woman at a Thrifty Car Rental counter). No other complaints. TSA personnel were professional, courteous and kind. They really are getting better. From the passenger’s standpoint, however, TSA’s job seems to be a little harder to put up with every year. I thought that the new machines would make it easier on pax. Instead, we must now remove everything—and I do mean everything—from our pockets... -
Engagement - How Team Members Communicate With Each Other
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Wednesday April 25, 2012In a previous article, we introduced the three key elements of communication that affect team performance according to a recent study measuring the effectiveness of teams. The key elements identified are: Energy – how members contribute to a team as a whole Engagement – how team members communicate with one another Exploration – how teams communicate with one another This week we are looking at the part engagement plays in the communication of effective teams. Engagement of a team reflects the distribution of energy among team members. If all team members have relatively equal and reasonable high energy with all other members, engagement of the team is extremely strong. However, some teams have... -
Delta’s Seat Belt Order
By Steve Smith - Tuesday April 24, 2012
The news that Delta Air Lines agreed last week to install seat belts on 6,000 pieces of GSE at 90 airports seems to be greeted with a ho-hum shrug of the shoulders. I haven’t read much more elsewhere about the implications this might have for our industry. The most interest I saw came from litigation lawyers' web sites that were more than happy to share this good news. Delta cut the deal with OSHA following the August 2010 death of a baggage tractor driver who was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from his vehicle. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , the home town paper for the airline, had more details about a memo Delta sent to employees after the agreement. The memo said many of its vehicles do not have seat belts. That might... -
In preparing for an upcoming annual airport event in Denver ...
By Brad McAllister - Wednesday April 18, 2012
airport business Magazine developed a cover story on the concept focus of the Airport Cities Conference held in Memphis last year. This year we travel to Denver for the world conference and exhibition. Some elements of the program I look forward to include: 1. An opening address by conference chairman John D. Kosarda, the man who coined the term “aerotropolis”. In last year's cover story, 'Airports Becoming Cities' , airport business interviewed Kosarda, who says the aerotropolis concept brings with it a change in thinking on the role of the airport. “Airport master planning itself must change,” he says. “Basically, airports must do business the way business does business.” 2. The 'Airport Cities Rising... -
Energy — How Members Contribute to a Team as a Whole
By ServiceElements, Christine Hill - Wednesday April 18, 2012In last week’s article we introduced the three key elements of communication that affect team performance according to a recent study measuring the effectiveness of teams. The key elements identified are: Energy – how members contribute to a team as a whole Engagement – how team members communicate with one another Exploration – how teams communicate with one another This week we are looking at the part energy plays in the communication of effective teams. Energy is the measure of the number and the nature of exchanges between team members. These exchanges could take several different forms: Face to face comments Acknowledgement by head nod or other body gesture Phone Video conference... -
Eliminate Baggage Fees
By Steve Smith - Tuesday April 17, 2012
Air travel would be safer if we allowed knives, lighters and liquids, according to Kip Hawley, who was in charge of the Transportation Security Administration during George W. Bush’s second term, in a Wall Street Journal essay published last Saturday. “Preventing terrorist attacks on air travel demands flexibility and the constant reassessment of threats,” he writes, describing a system made too brittle by enforcing regulations rather than managing risks. “It also demands strong public support, which the current system has plainly failed to achieve.” Hawley proposes a few baggage-related changes that he believes would make the system better and certainly provide the agency with some sorely needed public buy-in... -
Cameras On The Jet Bridge
By John Goglia - Tuesday April 17, 2012
I was talking the other day with a gate agent at Delta and he was telling me what a difference it makes when there's a camera under the jet bridge. It's so much easier to avoid damage to property and injuries to people when you can see what's around the jet bridge. I know from my own experience how difficult it is to maneuver jet bridges in a congested space, especially with the pressure to make a schedule and without the number of people that used to be available to assist on the ground. So why aren't more cameras deployed at airport jet bridges? Many cars have backup cameras as standard features yet we expect gate agents to maneuver large, awkward pieces of equipment without being able to see the hazards around them. These cameras... -
No Time for Think Time
It goes without saying that life has become…well just very busy. Family, civic and social activities, work, and hobbies if you have time for them, our daily routine and personal lives seem to be full of activity. Unfortunately and all too often one of the last items on the to-do-list is carving out time for strategy and planning ahead, be it vacation planning, education planning, your next career move, retirement, or next week’s workload. Are we always able to accurately plan and research for the next aircraft maintenance induction, tomorrow’s meeting, the next equipment purchase, next year’s operating budget, future product and service offerings? Managing communications in today’s busy world has become nearly a full-time task...
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