Story ID: 
Bombardier Safety Standdown Promotes Safety Influencers
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: Wichita welcomed attendees to the 28th edition of the Safety Standdown
Word Count: 510
During the opening session of the Bombardier Safety Standdown this morning, safety specialists promoted the theme of this year’s event—elevate your influence—and celebrated the 28th year of the three-day safety event. Attendance is free, and the event again saw a full house at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita, but those interested can also watch webcasts of many of the presentations live on the Safety Standdown website.
“You'll hear a lot about our theme this year,” said Bombardier demo pilot Franco Pietracupa, who launched the Standdown. “I think it's a great one. I love the word influence because it starts with ‘I’ and you'll hear a lot of our guest speakers talk about influence. You do make a difference.”
Chris Milligan, Bombardier v-p of preowned aircraft, welcomed attendees to the Safety Standdown. “The next few days provide us an invaluable learning opportunity for all of us to come together to share our thoughts and…our direction of what we're experiencing, and learn from each other.
“[The Standdown] may have been started by a couple of pilots 28 years ago, when they wanted to stop and evaluate human factors training, but what it has become today is truly a testimony to our industry, the progress that we've made, the leadership that we've had...If you look at it and what it has become, the people that are in this room, it's not just pilots. Safety cascades across the whole organization, from maintenance to people, from insurance to everything from A to Z.
“No matter where you're at in your career, from your first year to the 40th or 50th year in the industry, you all have a role to play, active listening, active participation, active applying, and being active and sharing after this week. So I strongly encourage you to become active, to not just sit in the back, not just let somebody else share their thoughts, but be active this week, because we all learn from you, as much as you will from the speakers. I'm truly excited about this agenda. The committee has done an outstanding job of getting incredible speakers for us this week, and I'm super excited about what they have to share with us.”
NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen wrapped up the introductory presentations, highlighting the need for everyone in the industry to work together. “The new technologies are coming forward at a breathtaking pace,” he said. “The challenges that we are seeing with the complexity of airspace and operations, whether it's commercial flight, whether it's the advanced air mobility, there is a lot coming to the market. What we need to do is make sure we all help each other succeed. We have to do our best. We have to do our part, and we have to make sure that when we leave here, we're different, and the people around us are different. We need aviation to be safe, and we're the group that's going to make it that way.”