Klasjet: Creating an Ultra-Safe Environment in Business Aviation

Among customers, private jet travel is strongly associated with quality of services and increased safety.  According to the Air Safety Institute (ASI), the rate of fatal accidents from private flights has gone below 0.84, indicating that the business aviation sector is flying more and reporting fewer safety incidents and fatal accidents.

Creating an ultra-safe environment in business aviation demands that all players develop a binding commitment to implementing safety and security essentials:

• Companies can achieve this objective by reviewing their safety practices and incorporating time-tested technologies per EASA recommendations for European Safety Promotion.

• Safety information-sharing remains at the core of safety promotion in the business aviation sector. As part of EASA recommendations, exchanging safety information is central to reduce gaps in safety.

• Air investigation reports have shown that aviation accidents culminate from an array of unmitigated safety-related incidents and loopholes in identifying and responding to safety hazards. Available figures show that charter and private aircraft have a greater probability of crashing due to unmitigated safety risks over commercial airlines – approximately 9.4 times and 32.9 times, respectively. Given the high risk of safety-critical incidents and fatal accidents in this segment, companies offering private and charter flight services should look at aviation safety reporting as a meaningful way to gather safety data.
  KlasJet, for example, has created a comprehensive Safety Management System (SMS) to obtain safety data across its fleet through integrated Flight Data Monitoring (FDM). Through FDM, the company can maintain a real-time view of flight risks and implement appropriate controls to mitigate these risks based on calculated threat level zones.

• Being in business aviation demands that various players treat their staff as the most critical asset to creating a safety culture. Current projections indicate that more than 50% of safety-critical incidents emanate from pilot errors. Providing safety-specific training for new pilots and re-training in-service pilots can help improve safety resilience in private aviation. Offering such training provides an opportunity to build competencies such as communication, mindset, decisiveness, leadership, teamwork, and situational awareness, which are critical while handling safety situations. Applying the Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs) prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 19 may provide a conducive platform for private and charter carriers to lay a foundation of safety training in their organizations.