Where Birds Don't Fly

Now and then, there are newspaper articles and news stories about diversity in aviation and discussions if diversity would improve safety or not. Some of the arguments against diversity is that the captain of the aircraft should be the best and diversity should not be considered. At the other end, the argument for diversity is that a diverse team stay stronger against bullies, or the one with the best vocabulary who wins the deal. The news media portrays these opinions as opposite ends of a spectrum from safe to unsafe. Sometimes discussions are in favor of diversity, while other times diversity is unsafe. No matter who wants to be the safest candidate, both sides are using the safety card. The only reason to play the safety card is that there is no data to support their statements. Everyone falls for the safety card and becomes paralyzed in a discussion against safety. The answer to diversity is not if it is safe or not, but to answer the question of what personal qualities a successf...

There are three level of a Safety Management System (SMS). Level 1 is the reactive level, Level 2 is the proactive level, and Level 3 is the predictive level. A fully developed SMS is an SMS at a level when predictions are applied. A predictive level is different than a proactive level, but these two levels also work in harmony. Level 1, as a reactive level stands out in its own class since no actions are required until after the fact, or after the data is available in a data collection tool. Level 2 is reactive to ensure that certain events do not occur again. Level 3, the predictive level, is when the system delivers predictions of future events.   A predictive level is different than to foresee the future. A predictive SMS is about comparing data collected and results from the past with current data collected to predict the future. Without making any changes to human factors system, organizational factors system, supervision system, or environmental system the outcome from ...