Deal aims to boost aviation safety

THE Accident Investigation Commission (AIC) has signed agreements with two aviation companies to share safety information, chief commissioner Hubert Namani says.
It signed separate memorandum of agreements with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) on July 6 and PNG Air Services Ltd last Tuesday.
“The memorandum of agreements spell out how the agencies will cooperate in the interests of improving aviation safety in the country,” Namani said.
“We are working together to identify safety issues through its investigations and findings, and Casa PNG and PNGASL and the industry responding to those issues to promote high standards of aviation safety,” he said. Namani said the agreements contained protocols for interaction among the agencies.
“They cover notifications of accidents and incidents and procedures around access to evidence, exchange of information and initiating safety action, noting that the AIC conducts no-blame investigations. Therefore some data and information obtained by the AIC may be classified as restricted and may not be shared with Casa PNG and PNGASL,” he said.
Chief executive officer and director of Casa Wilson Sagati said: “We recognise the importance for Casa PNG and the AIC to share safety information, while acknowledging there are necessary limitations on what the AIC can share with Casa.” He said where those limitations existed, the AIC would decide what information was shared.
Any Casa request for information would be only for that which was considered necessary in the demonstrable interests of safety.
“Casa is committed to providing AIC with information it believes is relevant to an AIC investigation.”