Aviation Safety leaders face a growing challenge in convincing prosecutors to be diligent in filing criminal charges against pilots, controllers and others involved in aircraft accidents.
Globally, there is a growing tendency of prosecutors and judges to seek criminal sanctions in the wake of aviation accidents, even when the facts do not appear to support findings of sabotage, criminal negligence or willful misconduct .The trend may be associate with the publics increased desire for accountability in many areas of industry-not just in aviation.
Without accountability through administrative remedies, such as civil penalties and license suspensions or revocations, one might argue that criminal prosecution in some situations would be reasonable. However, administrative and civil remedies nearly always exist and research by a Flight Safety Foundation working group found almost no adequate basis, other than willful conduct, for punishing individuals and companies further by subjecting them to risk of imprisonment or the equivalent of a corporate death sentence, particularly in an industry where safety reputations mean everything.
The aviation community all too well realizes that a single aviation disaster has many devastating consequences. Most importantly, lives are lost. Family members and friends of the victims mourn these losses; most seek answers, many seek change, and some seek revenge. Like the entire aviation industry, they want to know what happened, and why. In time, and with hard work, many lessons are learned. Possibly, the best way to honor victims of tragedy is to make sure all relevant information is obtained that might prevent future accidents. If individuals are not helpful to investigators out of fear of being prosecuted and sentenced to jail, investigators may never discover the truth.
Vital To Improve Safety
Most accidents are the result of human errors and often arise in context of a series of acts and omissions. Aviation technology is imperfect still, and individuals are even less perfect. Most professionals in any profession make mistakes in their everyday jobs. These mistakes in their everyday jobs. These mistakes normally go unnoticed and rarely result in real harm. Aviation, however, can be most unforgiving .For decades, the system has progressively elevated to its current high level of safety. In part because the industry has been permitted to conduct thorough investigations and collect complete information about the causes of accidents.
Nowadays, accidents in aviation are fortunately rare, so rare that sometimes we cannot learn sufficiently only from them .To learn, we need also to ask pilots,controllers,technicians-operational people often trying to balance multiple goals under time pressure-to tell us their stories, to pass on their insights, their experiences-what went wrong and what went right, what may be worth changing and should not be touched, where the gains are and where, if we act ,we will produce more side effects than benefits. When we punish these people, these valuable intelligence officers working on the front line, for their honest mistakes, we cut our information sources, we obstruct our capability to improve safety, we deny our society an opportunity for safer flights. This effect is also extended to the wider community of colleagues when one of them is ‘victimized'. By doing this we put a bomb in the works of the delicate improvement machine.
Prosecutors face the difficult duty to seek justice and protect society. It is their duty to seek justice, not merely to convict. Their crucial role is to protect the innocent as well as identify the guilty, to respect the rights of the accused as well as recognize the interests of the public. As prosecutors are quintessential public-interest lawyers, the aviation community has to make a case towards them as to how it learns and improves aviation safety for the same public, the same society that prosecutors protect.
Increased Criminalization
"Criminal Prosecutors are becoming increasingly eager to press charges against pilots, air traffic controllers and other aviation professionals involved in aircraft accidents, and that eagerness is a growing threat to flight safety" says Flight Safety Foundation President and CEO William R. Voss.
"The safety of the travelling public depends on encouraging a climate of openness and cooperation following accidents," Voss said." Overzealous prosecutions threaten to dry up vital sources of information and jeopardize safety."
"In situations of gross negligence, willful misconduct or reckless conducts, the judicial authorities need to pursue their own, separate investigation," Voss said. "The future lives of passengers depend on the vital safety information that is gathered during an accident investigation. The aviation industry is not against holding aviation professionals accountable if there is a case to answer. But it is important that everything follows international standards.
Globally, there is a growing tendency of prosecutors and judges to seek criminal sanctions in the wake of aviation accidents, even when the facts do not appear to support findings of sabotage, criminal negligence or willful misconduct .The trend may be associate with the publics increased desire for accountability in many areas of industry-not just in aviation.
Without accountability through administrative remedies, such as civil penalties and license suspensions or revocations, one might argue that criminal prosecution in some situations would be reasonable. However, administrative and civil remedies nearly always exist and research by a Flight Safety Foundation working group found almost no adequate basis, other than willful conduct, for punishing individuals and companies further by subjecting them to risk of imprisonment or the equivalent of a corporate death sentence, particularly in an industry where safety reputations mean everything.
The aviation community all too well realizes that a single aviation disaster has many devastating consequences. Most importantly, lives are lost. Family members and friends of the victims mourn these losses; most seek answers, many seek change, and some seek revenge. Like the entire aviation industry, they want to know what happened, and why. In time, and with hard work, many lessons are learned. Possibly, the best way to honor victims of tragedy is to make sure all relevant information is obtained that might prevent future accidents. If individuals are not helpful to investigators out of fear of being prosecuted and sentenced to jail, investigators may never discover the truth.
Vital To Improve Safety
Most accidents are the result of human errors and often arise in context of a series of acts and omissions. Aviation technology is imperfect still, and individuals are even less perfect. Most professionals in any profession make mistakes in their everyday jobs. These mistakes in their everyday jobs. These mistakes normally go unnoticed and rarely result in real harm. Aviation, however, can be most unforgiving .For decades, the system has progressively elevated to its current high level of safety. In part because the industry has been permitted to conduct thorough investigations and collect complete information about the causes of accidents.
Nowadays, accidents in aviation are fortunately rare, so rare that sometimes we cannot learn sufficiently only from them .To learn, we need also to ask pilots,controllers,technicians-operational people often trying to balance multiple goals under time pressure-to tell us their stories, to pass on their insights, their experiences-what went wrong and what went right, what may be worth changing and should not be touched, where the gains are and where, if we act ,we will produce more side effects than benefits. When we punish these people, these valuable intelligence officers working on the front line, for their honest mistakes, we cut our information sources, we obstruct our capability to improve safety, we deny our society an opportunity for safer flights. This effect is also extended to the wider community of colleagues when one of them is ‘victimized'. By doing this we put a bomb in the works of the delicate improvement machine.
Prosecutors face the difficult duty to seek justice and protect society. It is their duty to seek justice, not merely to convict. Their crucial role is to protect the innocent as well as identify the guilty, to respect the rights of the accused as well as recognize the interests of the public. As prosecutors are quintessential public-interest lawyers, the aviation community has to make a case towards them as to how it learns and improves aviation safety for the same public, the same society that prosecutors protect.
Increased Criminalization
"Criminal Prosecutors are becoming increasingly eager to press charges against pilots, air traffic controllers and other aviation professionals involved in aircraft accidents, and that eagerness is a growing threat to flight safety" says Flight Safety Foundation President and CEO William R. Voss.
"The safety of the travelling public depends on encouraging a climate of openness and cooperation following accidents," Voss said." Overzealous prosecutions threaten to dry up vital sources of information and jeopardize safety."
"In situations of gross negligence, willful misconduct or reckless conducts, the judicial authorities need to pursue their own, separate investigation," Voss said. "The future lives of passengers depend on the vital safety information that is gathered during an accident investigation. The aviation industry is not against holding aviation professionals accountable if there is a case to answer. But it is important that everything follows international standards.
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