Following the success of its inaugural Ground Handling Safety Symposium (GHSS), the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) is preparing to host the second annual event this September in the Washington, D.C., area.
The two-day event will be held Sept. 11 and 12 at the NTSB Training Center in Ashburn, Va., and NATA organizers are looking to build off the foundation laid by last year’s symposium.
Mike France, NATA’s managing director – safety and training, says attendees of last year’s GHSS offered feedback saying they benefited from the Open Discussion Forums held during the program.
“The major comment we heard was, ‘We need more of that,’” France says.
The GHSS will still offer traditional presentations covering key topics like just culture and accountability; fatigue management in ground handling; people skills and leadership, and its impact on safety; and Safety Management Systems (SMS).
“Then we’re going to do two of the Open Forum Discussions, facilitated by our committee. So we’ll do one each day, instead of doing one at the end. That way, people can discuss what we’ve been talking about throughout the day,” France explains. “Then the Case Studies are the new component that we’re going to add. It gives another opportunity for frank and open discussion about safety. We have several companies willing to come in and talk about incidents.
“Hopefully that spurs some discussion as well, giving everybody a chance to learn from each other.”
More than 40 people attended the first ever GHSS last year. France says those attendees were even more prepared to discuss key topics than NATA organizers expected.
He hopes an increase in attendance this year will lead to even more conversations about safety within general aviation, whether during the program or as part of networking opportunities.
“The networking breaks occur throughout the show, giving attendees an opportunity to continue discussions that may start during a presentation, or during an Open Forum or Case Study,” France says. “And we’re going to do our evening networking event, as we did last year, at Topgolf. We thought that was a great opportunity for all the attendees to get together, relax a little bit and get to know each other.”
France says the biggest benefit of the GHSS is it allows NATA to drive collaboration down to the operational level at FBOs to promote safety initiatives.
“It’s that spirit of collaboration. It’s the creation of a network of professionals across the industry that all have the same goal – and that is reducing incidents, reducing accidents and reducing injuries in general aviation ground handling,” France says, noting this can be achieved best through cooperation rather than competition.
“Let’s all work together on safety. There’s plenty of other areas where we can compete.”
