A19-02 – “…The Department of Transport collaborate with industry associations to develop strategies, education products, and tools to help air taxi operators and their clients eliminate the acceptance of unsafe practices.”
Transport Canada Response to Recommendation A19-02
TC agrees with the recommendation and is committed to working with its stakeholders to identify unsafe practices and support initiatives to improve safety.
To this end, TC has begun planning to implement a campaign focussed on safety in the air taxi sector. TC will engage key stakeholders at the next Aviation Safety Forum to be held in January 2020 where key potential safety pillars of the initiative and the need for industry collaboration will be discussed with representatives of the air taxi sector.
Provided there is industry support, the air taxi safety campaign will be modelled on the ongoing successful General Aviation Safety Campaign (GASC) where TC partnered with the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) and SmartPilot.ca to encourage safe practices within the general aviation community.
Based on knowledge, experience, and safety information gained from the GASC and its related safety initiatives, the air taxi safety campaign will concentrate on eliminating the acceptance of unsafe practices as identified in the TSB’s investigative report A15H0001.
Examples of some topics that the air taxi safety campaign could focus on are “pushing the weather” and “flying overweight”.
TC, in collaboration with stakeholders, will finalize the issues on which the Safety Campaign will focus in the spring of 2020 and begin the implementation of the campaign by the end of fall 2020.