Aviation Safety Department's Juergen Tank Plans Retirement
Juergen Tank
Issue date: 11/11/09 Section: News
After nearly 10 years at the helm of the Aviation Safety & Security Department, it is time for me to pursue my retirement at the beginning of December.
Looking back, I am compelled to take stock:
How did our safety culture and the safety record advance during this time?
Accurately gauging the safety culture is no easy feat, because here we deal with non-events, non-incidents. Exact measurements are unattainable.
However, we can approach this task from a different angle: Let's look at the willingness of pilots, maintenance personnel, and employees in general to report concerns and incidents to the Aviation Safety Team. Here we find a major improvement demonstrated by the fact that safety reports nearly doubled per hours flown. Today, we receive about one report for every 60 hours of flight time.
Now, what does this number represent besides more work for the Safety Team? This report frequency is the best indicator for the acceptance of our confidential and non-punitive safety reporting system by our employees, instructors, and students alike. Furthermore, this is solid proof of the willingness to engage in our proactive safety program, the trust placed upon its manager's confidentiality, and the appreciation of concrete improvements resulting directly out of this reporting activity.
Moreover, in yearly surveys of our pilots' agreement with the Flight Department's safety culture, we receive an approval rating in the high 90 percentile. Let's not forget our professionals from the maintenance department -- those men and women who work tirelessly to keep our fleet at the highest level of airworthiness, day-in, day-out; as one comment from the survey stated, "Our maintenance department rocks!"
Now for the safety record.
A review of the data submitted through our Incident/Hazard Reporting System reveals a safety record we can be proud of. Over the past 25 years -- yes, that's how long we collect safety data -- we managed to keep our mishap rate at about one-third that of the overall General Aviation figure.
Looking back, I am compelled to take stock:
How did our safety culture and the safety record advance during this time?
Accurately gauging the safety culture is no easy feat, because here we deal with non-events, non-incidents. Exact measurements are unattainable.
However, we can approach this task from a different angle: Let's look at the willingness of pilots, maintenance personnel, and employees in general to report concerns and incidents to the Aviation Safety Team. Here we find a major improvement demonstrated by the fact that safety reports nearly doubled per hours flown. Today, we receive about one report for every 60 hours of flight time.
Now, what does this number represent besides more work for the Safety Team? This report frequency is the best indicator for the acceptance of our confidential and non-punitive safety reporting system by our employees, instructors, and students alike. Furthermore, this is solid proof of the willingness to engage in our proactive safety program, the trust placed upon its manager's confidentiality, and the appreciation of concrete improvements resulting directly out of this reporting activity.
Moreover, in yearly surveys of our pilots' agreement with the Flight Department's safety culture, we receive an approval rating in the high 90 percentile. Let's not forget our professionals from the maintenance department -- those men and women who work tirelessly to keep our fleet at the highest level of airworthiness, day-in, day-out; as one comment from the survey stated, "Our maintenance department rocks!"
Now for the safety record.
A review of the data submitted through our Incident/Hazard Reporting System reveals a safety record we can be proud of. Over the past 25 years -- yes, that's how long we collect safety data -- we managed to keep our mishap rate at about one-third that of the overall General Aviation figure.
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