Aviation Safety Issues Dominate Aircraft Engineers Congress

The 39th AEI (Aircraft Engineers International) Annual Congress is to be held in Istanbul from the 5th – 9th October. This annual gathering of aviation professionals offers Licensed Aircraft Engineers a platform to voice their opinions and concerns on current trends within civil aviation.

Top of the agenda is the growing concern that airline outsourcing of maintenance is leading to a lack of direct oversight and therefore control of maintenance activities carried out on commercial passenger aircraft. Fred Bruggeman, AEI’s Secretary General says that “Although airlines are very keen to claim that safety is paramount, the increasing number of safety lapses suggests the opposite. AEI welcomes the fact that after many years of warning about safety standards within Europe, the European commission has finally begun to act.”

Mr Bruggeman’s concerns are endorsed by the EU’s SAFA (Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft) programme which has uncovered an increasing number of safety related incidents with German registered aircraft. The findings were published as part of the EU blacklist update in April. AEI considers it regrettable that a great aviation nation such as Germany has to undergo an embarrassing public scolding but remain convinced such action was necessary and will achieve the desired result, namely an improvement in the oversight of airlines and safety levels.”

AEI therefore urges the EU to inject renewed vigour into their plans to introduce a system of fines for non compliance with regulations based upon the American model, into Europe. “Large fines and the inevitable negative publicity act as a very strong incentive for airlines to uphold safety” continued Mr Bruggeman. “It is in the best interests of both passengers and safety that airlines not meeting prescribed safety standards be named and shamed. Therefore the ongoing EU consultation into introducing a similar system into Europe is to be welcomed but there are concerns that the process has lost momentum leaving European Airlines able to continue to hide their safety lapses behind a cloak of secrecy.”

Further items on the Congress agenda will be occurrence reporting. AEI maintain that an open reporting culture will improve safety and therefore must be supported by all parties. Unfortunately constant attempts by airlines to undermine the Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers safety function are not countered by aviation regulators. These engineers are fighting the safety and standards war on airport front lines, on behalf of the travelling public. Their job is to ensure that every single operational aircraft is safe and fit for the next flight.

Unfortunately airlines very often take a different view and consider such safety professionals as a cost factor or even burden. Although current aviation regulations contain clear and specific references to the responsibilities of these engineers, regulators including EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) and the Luftfarhtbundesamt have often failed to enforce them. Congress will be re-emphasizing to regulators and airlines alike the important role of the Licensed Engineer within the aircraft maintenance realm.