NBAA’s safety committee has released its 2024 Top Safety Focus Areas, with an emphasis on reducing operational risk. The safety committee updates the list every two years after bringing together 80 experts from across the industry to review where the top focus areas should be for business aviation.
A culmination of that review, the 2024 Top Safety Focus Areas are spread among three categories: preventable accidents, unique operational concerns, and mitigation strategies.
Preventable accidents cover loss of control in flight, runway safety, controlled flight into terrain, and ground operations and maintenance accidents. These focus areas were driven by the latest accident data, Dan Boedigheimer, committee vice chair and CEO of Advanced Aircrew Academy, said in an NBAA article on the latest safety priorities. He noted that loss of control inflight remains the top cause of fatal accidents.
As for unique operational concerns, the focus areas cover single-pilot operations, human factors, fitness for duty, and workforce challenges. Meanwhile, mitigation strategies include safety management system implementation, organization support of safety expenditures, and use and sharing of data.