A persistently high fatal accident rate for general aviation has spurred the US Federal Aviation Administration to take outreach action on certain segments of the sector.
Throughout April, the agency plans to hold nearly 100 safety stand-down events across the USA to get pilots to focus on professionalism, pre-flight actions, avoiding instrument conditions in cruise flight and avoiding stalls arising from airspeed mismanagement.
FAA administrator Randy Babbitt says the agency is going to "refocus its efforts" to transform the safety culture in the sector, which includes on-demand charter as well as business aviation operations.
The stand-downs are part of a broader 10-year data-driven plan in which the FAA is hoping to decrease the general aviation fatal accident rate by 10%.
GA's fatal accident rate for 2010 was 1.14 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, says the FAA, down from 1.16 in 2009. The agency's goal is to reduce the rate by 1% a year.
Source: Flight International