Bombardier’s annual Safety Standdown Latin America, held in São Paulo over the past two days, drew a record number of participants, confirming the event’s status as a key part of the build up to LABACE, which officially opened today. According to event manager Janet Schiebelhut, the fourth Safety Standdown Latin America drew 325 registered attendees, with 285 present on the first day for six workshops.
The first Safety Standdown at LABACE 2010 had 125 people sign up in advance, and about 190 attended.
The workshops covered international flight considerations and flight planning, cold-weather operations, high-elevation operations, aircraft performance and safety management systems.
Bombardier’s standdown program was conceived in 1996 as a safety-training event for the company’s Learjet flight demonstration team. The event quickly gained a reputation for excellence beyond Bombardier’s customer base. In response to growing interest, the OEM opened the Safety Standdown to all pilots in 1999 and elected to offer the training free to all participants. As of June this year, more than 5,700 pilots, crewmembers, safety specialists and industry officials have graduated from it.