Spotlight on Safety

Robert Agostino started flying jets when he was 22 years old. Safety quickly became a major focus for him because, as a young aviator, he encountered several aviation accidents that left him with a lasting impression.

Later, as the head of flight operations for Bombardier Learjet, Agostino was part of a team studying how jet accidents took place. In the team’s review of approximately 400 different accidents, involving of all types of airplanes, Agostino started to draw some parallels. After consulting with experts with the National Transportation Safety Board, the team determined there were only five or six different types of aviation accidents that just keep reoccurring.         

Agostino suggested employing something the military already used called a safety standdown. In this situation, if a certain type of aircraft has an accident and it is followed by another one, the military grounds that fleet of airplanes. “They stand them down, so they can understand the most probable cause,” Agostino explains.

This suggestion was instrumental in creating a program, called the Learjet Safety Standdown, which is still being used by Bombardier today.

“The idea was to present unvarnished and essential information to the flying public, and it was free of charge, because safety should not have a cost to it,” he says.

Later Agostino joined American Aero as its vice president of operations. Here at this impressive FBO located at Meacham International Airport, Agostino has had an opportunity to bring his extensive safety background to the FBO. Under his helm, all of American Aero FTW’s line personnel have completed intensive training through the Safety First program conducted by the National Air Transportation Association. And, in 2015, American Aero FTW became the first FBO in the Western Hemisphere to achieve the International Standard For Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH), a rigorous safety and ground handling accreditation from the International Business Aviation Council.

Airport Business recently caught up with Agostino to talk aviation safety and IS-BAH and IS-BAO’s role in improving safety at the FBO.

Can you define what is meant by safety in aviation?

Safety in and of itself does not exist. A lot of people say, ‘You really believe in safety.’ No. I believe in competency. Safety is a resultant of competency. Safety in and of itself is not an entity. Competency is an entity. The resultant of that competency is safety. The question then becomes how do you make people more competent?

What are the primary types of aviation accidents? And what can be done about them?

There are accidents that are related to weather. There are accidents related to mechanical failure. There are accidents related to air traffic control error.

The major contributor to accidents is human error. It is often referred to as pilot error. But that's way too narrow of a focus. A lot of times the error occurs because of communication differences between the pilot, the copilot and the flight engineer.

The real essence of understanding how to prevent an accident is to really understand human factors. How do we map out our own weaknesses? How do we track our own error patterns? What things can we put in place to help prevent those types of errors? What can be done to improve safety?

We have things called standard operating procedures. Standard operating procedures, in the aviation business as in the medical field, are absolutely essential. They are critically essential and they need to be developed and executed properly. But that’s only part of the formula.

The other part of the formula is understanding yourself and the people around you, so that communication can be more easily understood and anticipated.

Where is safety at in the FBO business?

We've been studying human error as it relates to cockpits for a very, very long time. To a lesser degree, we've been studying human error as it relates to the surgical operating room, but it's almost unknown in the FBO business.

What aviation does very well is put structure around organization, process and planning. You have a flight crew who meticulously plans a flight from point A to point B. They should know when they're going to arrive, plus or minus three or four minutes. They should know how much fuel they're going to land with, within just a few percent, so that they know what their reserves are going to be.      

But then when the airplane gets on the ground, we turn the airplane over to operators, FBOs, who move the aircraft, tow the aircraft, intermingle it among other aircraft, fuel the aircraft, provide services that require the opening and closing of various doors and access points on the airplane, and the risk processes aren't there.

For this reason, there is a far greater probability of a line operator backing my airplane into a hanger, or into another airplane, than I do of hitting another airplane in flight.

Can the IS-BAH program help with safety on the ground? If so, why aren’t more FBOs IS-BAH certified?

The IS-BAH program is fairly new. American Aero was the first FBO in the Western Hemisphere to achieve IS-BAH Level I. The parent organization for American Aero has been IS-BAO Level III, which is the highest rating you can achieve, for nine years or so. We were one of the very first to reach Level III.

We had developed policies and programs prior to the inception of IS-BAH, so our transition to the new international standard was reasonably easy.

Other FBOs have been slower to adopt IS-BAO and now IS-BAH. Remember, an FBO is a commercial enterprise, so anything that's viewed by some organizations as increasing overhead is generally not embraced very rapidly.

At American Aero, we believe that that the cost of training, policy development and policy adherence is more than offset by the potential for damage to aircraft, insurance claims or injury to personnel.

I think some FBO operators view this as just another expense. But I assure you, that for the amount of expense that is incurred, the benefits far outweigh the cost.

Consider this: In the industry, the standard is to have three people—two wing walkers and somebody on the tug--to move an airplane. But that's not always adhered to. I've seen $50 million airplanes being towed with one person, and they drove the wing into the side of a building. Then there’s $6-7 million damage because they had one guy doing the work of three.

There seems to be a lack of intellectual awareness in the aviation business that says, "Look, if all of these strategies designed to protect aircraft passengers and crew  are effective, why do they stop when the airplane parks at an FBO? We have very serious things taking place at FBOs: Fueling, deicing, servicing.

Why did American Aero decide to take the lead in pursuing IS-BAH certification?

We have been IS-BAO Level III for nearly nine years, so it just seemed like the logical progression. I also believe it gives our FBO a competitive edge. If pilots are landing at an airport with multiple FBOs, and one is IS-BAH certified, and the others aren't, I can tell you where they are going to park their airplane.

The whole idea of IS-BAH is to expose people to ideas and concepts and then develop processes around those. What we've found with our people is a lot of them, more often than not, were shaking their heads saying, ’Boy, that makes sense. I never thought of that.’ 

When we talk about the study of human factors and how those processes take place, IS-BAH breaks it down to an operational, usable, practical level.

What can FBOs expect as they go through the IS-BAH certification process?

They are going to learn a lot about themselves. They're going to learn about processes they currently have in place that are well positioned and well thought out, and they may learn some things about themselves that they don't like. Those are going to be trying to some organizations where the boss wants to do something one way, but it goes against everything that makes sense.

If you have people who have a propensity to want to work together as a team they will find IS-BAH certification to be an incredibly useful process that actually pulls people closer together. If you have an organization where that's not the case, they may find it less attractive.

But if somebody told you, ‘Look, by adopting these principles--that you yourself are going to develop--you can improve not only the quality of life at work, but also reduce your risk of harm to yourself and coworkers, and the risk of liability exposure to your employer,’ why wouldn't you do it?

What are some other benefits to IS-BAH certification?

In my mind's eye, it is definitely a delineator. It distinguishes an FBO as one that is truly interested in the safety of passengers and aircraft. You can't find an FBO, or any other organization, that doesn't say exactly the same thing. But how do you prove their claims as fact? How are your words congruent with your actions? How does a consumer determine that congruency?

One of the ways is IS-BAH. Potential customers can say, ‘Oh, this FBO is IS-BAH. I know that means they put more effort into training and process planning than an FBO that isn't.’ That seems to indicate that there might be some congruency between what the FBO says they do and what the consumer will see.

After you get this certification, what do you do to make sure that safety becomes a way of life?

Anybody can say they've got these great safety procedures, but with IS-BAH, each level becomes progressively more difficult.

Level I essentially says, ‘Look, we've developed policies and practices that are consistent with the highest international standards.’ But as you move up, and as these levels become more complicated, as they will with IS-BAH, the question becomes are you living those policies?

How do we do that? A lot of times people are afraid to report error because of consequence. In too many instances, when people were given the choice between doing the right thing or looking out after their own self-interests, the latter generally wins.

IS-BAH is based on a non-punitive environment. That doesn't mean there are not penalties for criminal activity, complete incompetency or complete negligence. The whole concept of IS-BAO and IS-BAH is to say, ‘Look, we want you to report non-compliance. We want to understand non-compliance. You're not going to lose your job if you're non-compliant.’ We want to understand why these things are occurring. Do we need more training? Do we need a different kind of training? Are we putting the wrong people in the wrong assignments?