Bombardier expects to draw more than 150 flight attendants to its third annual Flight Attendant Safety Summit tomorrow at the company’s Laurent Beaudoin Completions Centre in Montreal. The day-long event will feature speakers including Fireside Partners president and CEO Don Chupp, who will provide a presentation on emergency response planning, and Aviation Secure founder and president Kristopher Cannon on “Closing the Security Gaps.”
Breakout sessions will cover building mental health resilience in preparation for the unexpected safety procedures and response surrounding firefighting aboard aircraft; fatigue; and collaboration between flight and cabin crewmembers.
Bombardier, which hosts an annual Safety Standdown in Wichita for operators, recently highlighted the importance of expanding these efforts to flight attendants. The company’s chief of cabin experience and lead flight attendant, Bethan Williams-Velenosi, recently wrote an article that provided a call to action on safety.
She begins by noting that passengers look to flight attendants for maintaining calm, communicating vital information, and preparing them in cases of emergency.
“For me, safety is always the unwavering priority,” wrote Williams-Velenosi, a 25-year flight attendant veteran, in a May article. “It’s imperative to reexamine and reinforce the critical importance of safety and standardized training, especially within the often-overlooked realm of corporate aviation.”
She pointed to “sobering reminders” of aviation’s unpredictable nature that have come this year, such as the Japan Airlines A350 runway collisions in Tokyo or the Delta Air Lines CRJ900 that flipped upside down upon landing in Toronto. “These events underscore a fundamental truth: safety is not a given. It demands constant vigilance, rigorous preparedness, and flawless execution by every member of the aviation team,” she said, and noted that the NTSB has found in the past that cabin aides’ training did not adequately prepare them for duties in an accident.
“It’s time for candid reflection. Corporate aviation often lags behind our commercial counterparts in standardized, rigorous safety, particularly concerning cabin crew training,” she said. “Our commercial colleagues would never dream of allowing an unqualified individual to be responsible for passenger safety in the cabin. Why should we accept anything less in corporate aviation?”
Through her role on the Bombardier Safety Standdown Advisory Council, Williams-Velenosi said discussions turned to a need for an event specifically for the flight attendant community. “I am immensely proud to announce we are now actively planning the third annual Bombardier Flight Attendant Safety Summit, in close collaboration with Safety Standdown,” Williams-Velenosi wrote.