Aerospace & Aviation
Volume 1 • Issue 3
Air Transport - Essential and In Crisis
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The tragic events of September 11, 2001 have fundamentally reshaped attitudes toward travel, safety, security, the scope of federal regulations, and the aviation industry as a whole. To satisfy the demand for tighter security, airlines are facing heightened safety, security and insurance costs. Efforts to maintain and reorganize the aviation industry are essential to the global economy.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the total economic output of the air transport industry is over $1.3 trillion. "Air transport is the life-blood of the global economy - from travel and tourism to just-in-time delivery," states Lou Sorrentino, Managing Director and Vice President of the SH&E Safety and Security Practice, located in New York City. "There isn't an economic sector that does not rely on air transport today and that's why it's vital that we get this industry stabilized and back on its feet."
As the Managing Director of Safety/Security, Sorrentino provides strategic aviation security and safety services to the international aviation community, including:
- operational integrity assessments, and
- air carrier/airport safety and security assessments.
Sorrentino also represents the Flight Safety Foundation as Managing Director of Internal Evaluation Programs and is a Qualified Lead Auditor for ISO 9000.
" I believe in being proactive when it comes to operational integrity, safety and security," Sorrentino continues. "We can easily establish fixes to many of the circumstances that lead to the September 11th security lapses. However, the focus to insure sustainability must be directed on oversight and accountability. Without proper oversight - that of frequent and thorough auditing of the safety and security programs in place - all of the best-laid plans will fail. The human element can either act as the best failsafe to any active program or the most easily breached deterrent."
SH&E has built upon proven techniques found within the process auditing arena to form a specialized auditing methodology tailored to the transportation industry. The methodology is called Safety Architecture and is founded on the concept that safety and security principles must be built into all of the technical functions, the entire process, that supports flight operations. In this case an exacting assessment of the systems (or programs) and the controls that support the technical function of safe flight operations are examined. SH&E does this through a detailed examination of all the technical functions:
- Safety/Security Structure (Goals, Scope, Culture, Organization) that supports the
- Technical Programs (Systems, Controls and Work Process) and
- Risk Management system (Safety/Security Designed into Operation, Data Collection, Risk Analysis and Warning Thresholds) that is in place to analyze operational data and facilitate decision-making processes.
This method of assessment has been viewed as one of the most effective means to identify weaknesses in an organization's operational program and an efficient means of achieving comprehensive oversight.
"Oversight capability can be accomplished by either having an internal department, with the correct organization, credentials, resources, independence and support of senior management, or a third party, structured along the same lines. The main point here is to make sure, beyond any doubt, by testing and auditing all of the functions and steps in the process that everything they say they're going to do is being done," explains Sorrentino.
According to Sorrentino, SH&E conducts two types of testing:
- Compliance Testing - Looking at the appropriate regulations to determine if the organization is in compliance
- Process Assessment - Behavioral style referred to as Safety Architecture, whereby SH&E focuses on the interaction of all the key areas within an organization such as the structure of the organization, the people, their credentials, motivation and focus, their training, methods of corporate communication, and company goals. These are but a few of the complex array of elements assessed by SH&E.
"We look at all elements to see if the employees who are responsible for these areas are focusing on the right objective," said Sorrentino. "Often what we find is the employees are not focused on the right target because they are distracted by many other things that take them away from their core responsibility. You witness this every day if you look with a trained eye. We identify these critical areas and assist company's in changing processes and procedures to correct them and to insure sustainability under all circumstances."
Around the world, governments and airlines are discussing a wide range of significant regulatory issues addressing different aspects of airline operation - the largest being safety and security. The entire aviation community is focusing on the immediate challenges and is looking for quick solutions. "Some pieces of an air transport organization are dynamic and can be fixed quickly," states Sorrentino. "But, other areas need a thorough breakdown - piece by piece - of operations and a very realistic, factual, frank assessment of their procedures. The beauty of the process based Safety Architecture auditing methodology is that it enables a comprehensive, detailed look at the entire organization. If used properly, the organization learns to act together and focuses them on keeping a heightened level of vigilance even after a crisis subsides."
In a speech given on October 17, 2001, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., FAA Administrator Jane Garvey spoke about the changes in civil aviation following the terrorist attacks on September 11. Garvey discussed the goals of civil aviation in terms of safety and security. The goals are to:
- Keep terrorists away from the airport - through increased intelligence information and background checks
- Prevent access to the airplane - through screening or detection
- Prevent unauthorized access to the cockpit - through installations of modified cockpit doors
"Whatever enhancements are incorporated into our national security program, the most significant element to ensure the integrity of the system is oversight," comments Sorrentino. "We have seen, time and again, new procedures and techniques introduced to address a particular risk which has faltered over time due to the lack of consistent vigilance. Without an aggressive, comprehensive oversight program, all of the best-laid plans are capable of failing. As a nation, we cannot tolerate another failure," Sorrentino continues. "The events of September 11th quite clearly demonstrated how delicate our transportation system is."
Indeed, the events of September 11th have forever changed the face of the Aviation Industry. At the very least, it has focused a lot of attention on how we are going to conduct operations here in the U.S., to regulate them and to enforce those regulations once implemented. It has demonstrated how important air transport is to our economy. If we do not address the existing woes of the aviation industry, it's safety and security issues and how we're going to implement programs and processes to keep them from happening in the future, the freedom of air travel that we have enjoyed will not be available for some time. But this is not a call to arms within this industry alone, all modes of transportation and vital services must be examined concurrently with the efforts under way within the aviation community. If you think the aviation community was the target of these attacks, you are mistaken - our freedoms were the target. The crisis threatens not only the goal of peace, but also the aviation industry's ability to thrive within the world economy.
Prior to SH&E, Sorrentino was the Senior Vice President of Risk Management Services for Aon Aviation, he served as Senior Vice President of Operations for Signature Flight Support, and was Vice President of Operations, Support/Training & Safety with Page Avjet Corp.
FAA regulations and ISO 9000 documents and related manuals are available from Global. Please see the Standards section of this newsletter for more information.