Posts about stuff relating to airports
Aerodrome Works Safety: Filling in the Gaps
Australia’s standards provide a good framework for managing the risks associated with aerodrome works, but they require significant and comprehensive digestion to understand them. This month, I’ve already touched on the challenges related to writing standards, and this topic showcases the style of regulation that sets some boundaries and parameters within which an aerodrome operator is expected to build a process.
In today’s post, I would like to share how I used to train aerodrome work safety officers (WSOs) on the management of aerodrome works.
Serious Incident Review: Aerodrome Closed Due Works
Not all aviation incidents are accidents, but they are all learning opportunities. This serious incident involving a larger private aircraft at a relatively quiet regional aerodrome builds on some of the lessons from yesterday’s post and helps me build towards tomorrow’s discussion on Australian aerodrome works safety standards. So, let’s discuss the day a Merlin took off from a closed runway at Gunnedah.
Accident Review: Aerodrome Works Safety & Singapore Airlines Flight 006
An aerodrome is a hazardous environment: lots of moving parts, competing objectives, humans being human, weather, etc. When we need to conduct airside works, we introduce even more hazards and more risk. And this requires a specific set of management activities. One of the worst aviation accidents involving aerodrome works was the 2000 crash involving Singapore Airlines Flight 006 (SQ006) at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The story behind this accident and its aftermath is complex but let’s look at it from an aerodrome works safety management point of view.
The Best Job in the World
I am overcome with the desire to gloat. I have, in my humble opinion, the best job in the world. Now this might be the exhaustion talking but this week has had a great mix of new experiences, further development in existing skills and a real sense of progress. The reason I'm exhausted is that my schedule this week has been chaotic. I've worked on average only 11 hours or so for each of the first three days this week but those hours have included evenings, mornings and a fair bit of back of the clock "flying".