AVCANADA

Transport Canada bans media from float plane safety workshop
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun August 29, 2010

VANCOUVER - Transport Canada’s decision to ban the media from attending a float plane safety workshop has been criticized sharply from within the industry.

“I feel the press should attend,” insisted Joel Eilertsen, the owner of Air Cab, based in Coal Harbour near Port Hardy. “There’s nothing to be concerned about, nothing to hide.

“It creates a suspicious attitude. I think [the news media] should be able to attend. You should be there to hear the comments from everybody.”

Transport Canada is inviting 55 float plane operators from around B.C. to attend a two-day workshop to discuss ways to make the industry safer.

Ottawa says the Oct. 6-7 workshop in Vancouver will address issues such as “safety record and trends, safety culture, customers’ expectations, protection of passengers, and egress techniques.”

The workshop follows the deaths of 22 people in four commercial float plane accidents over the past two years on the B.C. coast, including six who died in a Seair Seaplanes crash off Saturna Island on Nov. 29.

Martin Eley, director-general of civil aviation in Ottawa, confirmed the decision to “limit the workshop to representatives of the regulator, industry, and safety advocates to facilitate productive regulatory and technical discussions.”

It was Eley who shelved improvements in float plane safety in a letter to a superior in May 2008, saying: “In a subsequent discussion you and I agreed that in the absence of a clear way forward, this file would be put on hold in deference to other civil aviation priorities. Any further work on this file would need to be evaluated in the context of our current organization and our current priorities.”

Among the more contentious issues expected to be debated is whether Transport Canada should mandate a federal transportation safety board recommendation that life vests be worn on float-plane flights.

Five men escaped an MJM Air crash off Quadra Island in 2005, only to drown because they weren’t wearing life jackets and didn’t grab them from the plane before swimming free.

Among other float-plane safety developments, Saltspring Air on Aug. 18 installed the first emergency pop-out windows on a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver seaplane, making it easier for passengers to escape in the event of a crash in water.

In July, The Vancouver Sun reported that B.C.’s major float plane companies were not complying with a Transport Canada request that new float-plane safety brochures provided by Ottawa be distributed to all passengers.

On Friday, The Sun flew aboard a Seair float plane between Richmond and Nanaimo.

Seair did have the Transport Canada pamphlets on a side counter, but not at the check-in counter, where they’d be more obvious. No one distributed them to passengers or even mentioned they existed, which fell short of Transport Canada’s request to industry.

Inside the Seair office in Nanaimo, the Transport Canada pamphlets were positioned front and centre, at the check-in counter.

On the return flight with Harbour Air, there were no pamphlets at all at the check-in counter or waiting area in Nanaimo. An employee said they were out and expecting more. The pamphlets were on the front counter of the airline’s Richmond office.

On SMS, I dont think SMS will ever be fully implemented in that sector, so I think TC will need/must increase surveillance to enforce the current rules - which are adequate.

B.C. float-plane operators 'turn page in history' to form safety association
BY LARRY PYNN, VANCOUVER SUN
OCTOBER 8, 2010

Continuing float-plane crashes in B.C., including the deaths of six passengers in a tragedy off Saturna Island, have prompted what the industry is calling historic action to improve safety.

B.C.'s commercial float-plane operators wrapped up a two-day workshop organized by Transport Canada on Thursday with a commitment to create a new association dedicated specifically to safety.

"It's a huge first step," Quentin Smith, president of Pacific Coastal Airlines, said in an interview immediately after the closed workshop. "It's turning a page in history and going forward, breaking down the competitive barriers we've had in the past.

"Clearly, the loud message is that we have to work as a team with one voice and sharing information. This is going to be industry-driven, not government. It's about creating an industry standard."

Bill Yearwood, regional manager of the federal transportation safety board, said he attended the workshop as an observer and was encouraged by what he heard. He said an association would provide a more formal structure for allowing float-plane operators to meet and exchange safety ideas and encourage "best practices."

The safety board has been pushing Transport Canada for years to improve safety on float planes through initiatives such as mandatory use of life-preservers during flights and egress improvements that would allow passengers to escape more readily in a crash at sea.

"An association can do a better job of raising the bar," Yearwood said. "The board has tried to identify the risks and solutions on a broad-based level. If the risk is managed voluntarily by all the operators, that would be great."

Last Nov. 29, six passengers, including a mother and her infant daughter, died after they were unable to escape a Seair Seaplanes de Havilland Beaver float plane that sank shortly after crashing into Lyall Harbour off Saturna Island. The pilot and one other passenger survived.

The safety board report into that crash is expected to be released later this year.

The Vancouver Sun published a six-part series into float-plane safety last May and June.

Aviation safety advocate Kirsten Stevens, whose husband was among five men who died in an MJM Air crash off Quadra Island in 2005, noted Transport Canada has given assurances that the operators' safety association will not replace government oversight of the industry.

"I'm coming away with a positive feeling," she said. "The formation of a safety association is something I've wanted to see happen."

Transport Canada, which invited 55 float operators around the province to the workshop, refused to provide anyone to be interviewed Thursday.

Industry representatives will meet again Nov. 4 in Richmond to discuss more details on how the association will be established.

Viking Air of Sidney, the "type certificate holder" for the Beaver, gave a demonstration at the workshop of emergency pop-out windows it has designed for the aircraft. It has also manufactured new easier-to-use door latches similar to those in a motor vehicle, and put two latches on the cabin doors to make it easier for passengers in the forward and aft cabin seats to use them.

Transport Canada has so far not forced industry to implement these safety fixes, but several operators have voluntarily ordered them.

Yearwood said he was also encouraged to hear that the majority of operators have voluntarily installed satellite tracking systems on their aircraft to allow search-and-rescue officials to find downed aircraft faster and help save lives.

Richmond-based Mustang Survival also gave a presentation at the workshop of its life-preservers, which can be worn by pilots and passengers during flight then inflated manually once they escape the aircraft, reducing the need to search for preservers under the seats during a crash.

"Clearly, the loud message is that we have to work as a team with one voice and sharing information. This is going to be industry-driven, not government. It's about creating an industry standard."

Yearwood said he was also encouraged to hear that the majority of operators have voluntarily installed satellite tracking systems on their aircraft to allow search-and-rescue officials to find downed aircraft faster and help save lives.

Not sure a workshop is needed. Don't push the weather, Don't push the airplanes limits and Don't fly broken airplanes.
Seems like if they are talking about life jackets , or "pop out windows" they have already come to the conclusion that the crashes will continue to happen.

Stop flying heavy, badly maintaned airplanes, in bad weather

You forgot to mention "while exhausted"...

It's not rocket science. Stop flying heavy, badly maintaned airplanes, in bad weather. There I just saved everybody the travel costs.

If the idea is that shit happens and we are trying to save lives when the inevitable occurs. I say throw helmets on everyone also.

Discussion is good. Solutions to real world problems are solved this way, through organization, communication, plans of attack and follow-thru.

Here's hoping we'll see some positive steps forward in aviation safety come about because of this new organization.

I don't know of any operators on the coast who pay by the mile anymore. I think that went by the wayside with VHS.
Most of us are paid by the duty hour, with a minimum number of duty hours per month during the winter, some are paid by the day, and some are on salary.