Association’s Safety Report Highlights Trouble Spots

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its annual safety report this week, which highlights concerns around the globe. Although the report focuses on commercial aviation incidents and accidents, business aviation operators can benefit from its content, given that specific regions and countries are analyzed for problem areas. IATA warned that most of the African continent and Russia and its associated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) should be considered potentially dangerous regions for aviation. An association spokesman said Africa, in particular, presents numerous infrastructure, airspace and resource problems. “The airspace is largely uncontrolled,” he said. He went on to say that many operators will simply take off and operate at a random altitude on whatever flight plan they choose. In Russia and the CIS, infrastructure problems do exist, but the high accident rate is due more to training and equipment issues, he said.