WASHINGTON, DC, June 23, 2011 –  General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) President and CEO Pete Bunce responded to today’s announcement by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) regarding the addition of "General Aviation Safety" to the agency’s “Most Wanted List.”

Safety is general aviation’s first priority and as a result, our industry has taken on a number of initiatives to further reduce general aviation (GA) accidents and incidents.

Earlier this year, the GA industry re-launched the General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC) in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  The group has participants from the broad GA industry including manufacturers, operators, flight instructors, and associations with the NTSB as an observer.   The GAJSC safety analysis team is co-chaired by GAMA and the FAA Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention. Through this effort, we are redoubling and focusing our efforts to prevent loss of control accidents and controlled flight into terrain. 

Improved data analysis and risk identification is critical to targeting and promoting proper interventions and prevent accidents.  To facilitate data analysis, it is important to provide legal protection for voluntary data collection and safety management system (SMS) data and information.  This was recognized by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s “Future of Aviation Advisory Committee” and GAMA has called for legislative action to provide protection of safety information. 

In addition, to ensure that the GA manufacturers can continually bring the newest and most advanced technology to even the lightest general aviation airplanes, such as glass cockpits, traffic collision avoidance systems, and real-time weather information, we will continue to work to ensure that FAA’s certification resources are sufficient and the certification process is made more efficient.   Bringing these safety-enhancing products to every cockpit will lead to improvements in general aviation’s safety record.

We look forward to strengthening our already close relationship with the NTSB in these areas as we work together to further improve the safety of general aviation operations.