This month’s briefing is provided by Editor-at-Large Dianne White.
In a few short days, the aviation industry will be converging on Orlando for the 2022 NBAA-BACE convention, arguably the largest gathering of leaders, companies and professionals working in or serving business aviation. The show, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, takes place October 18-20 at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center and nearby Orlando Executive Airport (ORL).
For the twin-and-turbine owner-pilot, the show is one-stop shopping for new and preowned aircraft, avionics, gear, services, training, insurance and much more. NBAA also offers the unique opportunity to expand your knowledge on virtually any topic related to owning, operating and maintaining your aircraft.
For the past two years, I’ve served on the single-pilot working group within NBAA’s Safety Committee. Led by Rosa Lee Argotsinger, director of flight safety and security at Textron Aviation, the committee is comprised of safety experts across the spectrum of business aviation who also have specific expertise in single-pilot operations. As a committee, we are focused on not only addressing the top safety issues facing single-pilot operators but what best practices and ideas from larger aviation organizations and flight departments could be scaled and applied to the one-aircraft owner or small flight department.
The culmination of our work is the NBAA Single-Pilot Safety Standdown scheduled for Monday, October 17, the day before the official start. This year the focus of Standdown is focusing on the prevention of runway excursions. Addressing preventable accidents is a top safety focus for the NBAA Safety Committee. Runway excursions certainly fall into that category. Further, the incidence of runway excursions has been a continuing issue plaguing all levels of general aviation. While the majority of excursions don’t result in loss of life, they do cause significant injuries, the loss of aircraft and drive insurance rates up.
Why is this event one you shouldn’t miss? Committee chair Rosa Lee Argotsinger responded, “We worked hard to bring runway excursions into focus in a meaningful way for the operators. We’ll begin by reviewing a case study that illustrates this risk thoroughly – highlighting contributing factors that could easily go unnoticed until you have that perfect storm of circumstances. Then, throughout the remainder of the sessions, our speakers will detail a variety of practical strategies that can be used to avoid an excursion. We have a fantastic lineup that will offer a variety of perspectives. I think the content is going to resonate with anyone that occupies the left seat of an airplane.”
Speakers scheduled to present include the following:
- Peter Basile, senior air safety investigator at Textron Aviation, will discuss how a Cessna Citation 551 flight progressed from approach to a runway excursion that ultimately ended in an accident. You will see the accident video, hear ATC communications, and see investigation photographs and performance calculations. From this, Peter will share key takeaways to avoid a runway excursion accident.
- Daher’s Raphael Maitre will present how data collected on the MyTBM app helps TBM pilots gain immediate feedback on key flight parameters. He’ll also talk about how even simple flight data monitoring programs can result in improved performance.
- Dan Moore, a top in-aircraft instructor and safety expert, will discuss how you can achieve consistency in your landings.
- Charlie Precourt, with the Citation Jet Pilots Association, will unveil the results of a comprehensive research study aimed at addressing runway excursions and how the findings are now providing usable, realistic procedures and guidance for pilots.
What outcome do we hope to achieve from the Single-Pilot Safety Standdown? Rosa Lee summarized it best: “We want to prevent accidents within the aviation community – plain and simple. We want to build awareness around this particular hazard, have attendees walk away talking about the content, and thinking about how they might incorporate these concepts into their flying habit patterns. For some, the content may offer new information; for others, it will serve as important reminders. And we want attendees to have the added benefit of building connections – sitting down with other safety-minded pilots and sharing ideas. Business aviation is an amazing community. We want to look out for one another, and that’s what’s great about NBAA-BACE. It gives us this space to connect in this way.”
You can read more about the Safety Standdown at nbaa.org by searching “2022 Standdown.”
Hope to see you there!
