Page 25 - Index

A Look at Recent ICAO Activities

By Steve Creamer, Director, Air Navigation Bureau, ICAO

(The author presented this keynote address during ISASI 2021, a virtual seminar hosted from
Vancouver, B.C., Canada, from Aug. 31–Sept. 2, 2021. The theme for the seminar was “Staying Safe,
Moving Forward.”—Editor)

n behalf of the International Civil demic conditions. These guidelines were
Aviation Organization (ICAO), I updated and are available on the road
would like to thank the Interna- map webpage under the Aircraft Accident
Otional Society of Air Safety Inves- & Incident Investigations tab. Investiga-
tigators for hosting this virtual annual tion procedures and guidelines addressed
seminar. It is a high point on the ISASI include participation of states in inves-
calendar, and ICAO thanks the organizers tigations, when the state of occurrence
for providing me with this opportunity to is a member of a regional accident and
address such a prestigious group of avi- incident investigation organization, delay
ation investigators. Close relations exist in readout of flight recorders by another
between ISASI and ICAO, and the support state due to travel restrictions, and delay
ISASI provides to the Accident Investiga- in carrying out tests of aircraft parts in
tion Panel (AIGP) is appreciated. I would other states. Protocols developed by two
also like to thank ISASI for taking the air accident investigation authorities are
initiative to bring together investigators also available on this webpage.
from all aspects of the aviation industry These guidelines and protocols assisted
to discuss issues relating to the organiza- with the arrangements for the investiga-
tion, infrastructure, and management of tion of an Airbus A320 accident on May
accident and incident investigations. 22, 2020, in Pakistan in which accred-
As you are aware, the global aviation ited representatives from France were
industry was seriously impacted by the able to travel to Pakistan to participate
pandemic. ICAO established alleviations in the investigation. Similar protocols
to standards of the annexes as interim were applied for the download of the
measures to support continued opera- flight recorders for the investigation of
tions. As interim measures, these alle- the Ukraine International Airlines B-737
viations cannot sustain safe operations Flight PS-752 accident on Jan. 8, 2020, in
indefinitely, and a return to normal opera- Iran. The flight recorders were taken to
tions, referred to as a “new normal,” is re- France for the French BEA to assist with
quired. ICAO is cautiously moving toward the download of these recorders. This was
the new normal where these alleviations, an investigation in which ICAO provided
and the guidance for use, will slowly be assistance, and an ICAO technical officer
withdrawn. They will be superseded with was present during the downloading of
planning tools and approaches for the re- the flight recorders.
commencement of operations in line with Safety is aviation’s top priority. The
the requirements of standards and rec- Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) sets
ommended practices, accessed through forth ICAO’s safety strategy in support
the Roadmap to OPS Normal homepage. of the prioritization and continuous im-
The link to this webpage is https://www. provement of aviation safety. The purpose
icao.int/safety/OPS/OPS-Normal/Pages/ of the GASP is to continually reduce fatal-
default.aspx. ities, and the risk of fatalities, by guiding
During the beginning of the pandemic, the development of a harmonized safety
ICAO engaged with the accident investi- strategy and the implementation of re-
gation community to provide guidelines gional and national aviation safety plans.
for conducting investigations in pan- The GASP promotes the implementation Steve Creamer

January-March 2022 ISASI Forum • 25