Story ID: 
NTSB's Landsberg Stresses Need To Overhaul Notams
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Speaking during the opening session of the Flight Safety Foundation's BASS, NTSB vice-chair Bruce Landsberg called for improved notams, SMS, and FDM.
Word Count: 231
NTSB vice-chair Bruce Landsberg kicked off the Flight Safety Foundation/NBAA 66th Business Aviation Safety Summit (BASS)  in June stressing a need for the FAA to wrap up its two-decade-long effort to overhaul the notam system, calling the necessary changes a “safety of flight issue." Landsberg also highlighted the need for business aircraft operators to embrace safety management systems (SMS) and flight data monitoring (FDM).

He questioned why there are so many notams and why they are so cryptic and said, “It’s time we did something different.” Notams should be accessible in one place and improved in coordination with stakeholders and other groups, he said. 

Landsberg also said SMS can root out unforeseen safety issues. Organizations may point to their perfect safety record, but he said, “Everything is perfect behind you, but it is the next flight that is the most important.” However, the FAA should "keep in mind that it needs to be simple, it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, and it doesn’t need to have a huge amount of paperwork.”

As for FDM, he asked, Landsberg stressed the importance of basic measuring—“If we’re measuring things, it allows us to modify our behavior for optimal outcomes. Does it work? Absolutely.”
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