CBC The National: Report on SMS this Wednesday

[CL-Skadoo!]

Just a heads up to watch CBC's The National this Wednesday, November 9th as they will be presenting a story on SMS and its impact on Canadian Aviation. Also, there will be a similar story on French CBC programme "Enquete" on Nov. 17

[x-wind]

Thanks!

[cdnpilot77]

Just a heads up to watch CBC's The National this Wednesday, November 9th as they will be presenting a story on SMS and its impact on Canadian Aviation. Also, there will be a similar story on French CBC programme "Enquete" on Nov. 17

Thanks for the heads up. It will be an interesting watch to be sure.

[square]

What does SMS actually matter? It's not even required for most operators. And it doesn't take anything away from the training & oversight program those operators already had. TC didn't do thorough audits to begin with. So if adding a relaxed SMS program to an already compliant air operator makes their company worse please explain how that makes sense? It doesn't. It's true that Transport Canada is just waving a magic wand at what their job is supposed to be, but should it indite air operators? I don't think so. If CBC wants to paint Canadian Aviation with a black brush they ought to find an actual point to make. Calling us unsafe because TC likes SMS is a load of shit and would simply be slander.

[ahramin]

And it didn't take anything away from their previous program.

That's just the point. It did take away. Instead of being in the compliance business, TC is now in the SMS oversight business.

As long as an operator is pushing the SMS paperwork around in a manner that satisfies TC, there is far less oversight than there used to be.

[square]

That's just the point. It did take away. Instead of being in the compliance business, TC is now in the SMS oversight business.

As long as an operator is pushing the SMS paperwork around in a manner that satisfies TC, there is far less oversight than there used to be.

Only for 705 operators is it not? And there are precious few 705 operators who have a history of cheating at cards. Maybe transwest, but not the jets.

[sanjet]

Well if their reporting is as legit as that swissair fiasco. I'll have my popcorn ready.

[CL-Skadoo!]

Square, SMS is well in use at the 703 and 704 levels throughout Canada.

[CID]

I'm all for having a balanced discussion about SMS and hearing from experts. Unfortunately, after watching several extremely flawed and alarmist pieces on CBC programs I have lost any respect for their news specials.

It's important to watch this however because it will form many Canadian's opinions of the state of affairs in the aviation business. (For better or worse)

[YYZSaabGuy]

I'm all for having a balanced discussion about SMS and hearing from experts. Unfortunately, after watching several extremely flawed and alarmist pieces on CBC programs I have lost any respect for their news specials.

It's important to watch this however because it will form many Canadian's opinions of the state of affairs in the aviation business. (For better or worse)

+1. To both comments.

[Sasquash]

Square:

You might be surprise to learn that TC inspectors do not favor SMS per say, as evidenced in the following presentations from the chairman of the Canadian Federal Pilot Association, representing all TC and TSB pilots. This was produced in April 2009 prior to the legislation coming into force and the sentiment about the system, as I understand it, is still valid today.

Air Safety Round Table Greg Holbrook part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnRyI-3Zhlk

Air Safety Round Table Greg Holbrook part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIKgCLo27LM

Air Safety Round Table Greg Holbrook part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAXTP2Fl ... re=related

CID is also correct about these media reports being bias, regardless I am looking forward to this one to see what pulse of the industry is like these days.

[ogopogo]

For those of us in the outside world, what is SMS?

[ahramin]

Safety Management System

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/s ... nu-618.htm

[YYZSaabGuy]

SMS is an industry acronym for Safety Management Systems - you can find an explanation on Transport Canada's website here: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/s ... nu-618.htm. FAQs are here: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/s ... u-2889.htm.
Hope this helps.

Edited to remove apology on URL posting: apparently I DO know how to do this.
And I see Ahramin beat me to it with his response.....

[jeffrey.cyr]

SMS is better then nothing, but I've seen it fail.

I think that the biggest problem with it is that the head of the SMS can be appointed by management and from what I've seen it usually is a member of upper management. This gives veto power to people with a conflict of interest.

With any luck, an over done alarmist news special will actually make things change for the better even if it is a lump of shit. I don't know about everyone else, but I do things right and safe when not ordered to do otherwise so I have nothing to fear from a stricter SMS.

[CL-Skadoo!]

CBC-TV will broadcast an important documentary about aviation safety immediately following the CBC National News on this evening, November 9, 2011, beginning at about 10:20 PM.

Produced by prominent CBC investigative journalist Alex Shprintsen, and featuring Justice Virgil Moshansky and international aviation experts, the documentary examines the ill-conceived Safety Management System (SMS ), implemented by Transport Canada four or so years ago.

Justice Moshansky is a legendary figure in Canadian aviation. He chaired the Dryden inquiry, which became in effect a wide-ranging examination of many aspects of Canadian aviation and uncovered numerous problems. The extensive recommendations of the inquiry vaulted Canada into a leadership position in aviation safety practices.

Moshansky, who continues to follow the aviation industry closely, has become concerned in recent years that air safety in Canada is in decline. In 2007 he issued a scathing condemnation of Ottawa's move to give Canada's air carriers greater responsibility to oversee the safety of their operations. He told the Commons transport committee "Today, 18 years after Dryden, history is repeating itself, only worse."

Please forward this alert on to anyone you feel may have an interest in aviation safety, which probably would include all who travel on commercial airlines. You may also want to suggest that they subscribe to the SafeSkies email newsletter (which they can do here: http://SafeSkies.ca) to be informed of progress in getting these serious concerns addressed.

[JL]

On a related story...

Northern News Services - Dene chiefs call for hearing on air safety
Dene chiefs call for hearing on air safety

Public meeting with Transportation Safety Board wanted

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Tuesday, November 8, 2011

THEBACHA/FORT SMITH

Dene chiefs are calling on the federal board responsible for airline safety to hold a special meeting in Yellowknife as a result of recent fatal plane crashes in the NWT and Nunavut.

The chiefs, gathered in Fort Smith for their fall meeting Oct. 25 to 27, unanimously passed a resolution requesting the public meeting.

Bill Erasmus, national chief of the Dene Nation, said there was a very good discussion in Fort Smith about the problems residents of smaller communities are seeing with regular flights and scheduled service.

"It's not pointing fingers at any of the airlines," he said. "It's saying that this is a real issue in the North and people want to have their opinions brought forward."

Among the concerns expressed by the chiefs, Erasmus noted many flights don't have co-pilots and not all planes carrying passengers have twin engines.

Another concern of the chiefs is that freight and passengers are often on the same planes flying into communities.

"They think the two should be separated because freight is very heavy and people don't feel comfortable in a scheduled plane that has a lot of freight on it," he said.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is responsible for the safety of airline operations and for the investigation of airline accidents. That body is investigating a crash near Lutsel K'e that killed two people on Oct. 4, an incident with a Twin Otter in Old Town on Sept. 22 that resulted in two deaths and a flight that left Yellowknife for Resolute on Aug. 20 that went down, killing 12 of 15 people on board.

Erasmus said airline safety is an important issue for many smaller communities, particularly the ones that are only accessible by air.

He noted the recent accidents have caused concern.

"People are not as eager to get on a plane as they were," he said.

For example, he noted more people than usual drove to the meeting in Fort Smith instead of flying. However, he could not say for sure that could be attributed to the recent accidents.

Erasmus himself flies often.

"I have a particular belief when I'm flying," he said. "I have to trust the pilot and airlines, and, if I didn't, I wouldn't fly as much. But saying that, the planes have to be in good condition."

The chiefs also passed a number of other resolutions at their meeting in Fort Smith. They called for a moratorium in Denendeh on hydraulic fracturing commonly referred to as fracking until further research is conducted on impacts to land, water and human health, and until there are proper regulatory requirements and safeguards in place for that type of development to proceed.

Fracking basically involves using water and chemicals to extract natural gas from rocks underground.

Erasmus said, as far as he knows, fracking is not currently happening in the NWT.

"But I think there's movement to have it occur in the North and that's a concern," he said. "We want a full discussion on this."

Erasmus noted he brought the issue to the attention of new Premier Bob McLeod at a meeting on Oct. 31 and the territorial government leader is open to the idea of doing proper research.

"We'll now begin working with the MLAs to bring these questions forward and get the kind of knowledge on this so that we know what it all encompasses," Erasmus said.

At their Fort Smith meeting, the chiefs also passed a resolution in support of a protocol for future relations with the GNWT.

"We seem to be at loggerheads the last couple of years, and we want to get away from that," Erasmus said. "We want to be constructive and have some positive outcomes with this new administration."

Part of a new protocol would involve a better understanding of what consultation means, the national chief said. "It's a definition of consultation that we can all agree on and move forward with it."

The Dene chiefs' fall meeting in Fort Smith brought together representatives of 25 communities from all regions of the NWT.

[jeta1]

.

[Changes in Latitudes]

I'm pretty happy with it so far, better than I expected.

[The Old Fogducker]

Congratulations to Inspector David L. W. Winter (ret) for coming forward to express his experiences with the Department of Transport in his latter years in the Edmonton office after about 20 years based in the Winnipeg office.

OFD