Confessions of a Flight Safety Officer

Mobility Forum, Jul/Aug 2004 by Wahler, Mike

So, what's the point of all of this rambling? I learned a lot through these boards and I think we could all benefit from what I learned. Hopefully these lessons learned may help you someday whether you serve on a board or not.

First, you will get selected to serve on a Safety Investigation Board (SIB) at what seems like the absolute worst time. You will have to cancel some plans and you will think there has to be somebody more qualified or available than you are. You're mistaken. The AMC staff and your local wing staff agonizes over who to submit for these boards and strives to pick the person who is the most qualified and has the fewest conflicts, both personal and professional. After we are notified of a mishap requiring a SIB, we determine the required makeup of the board. We then notify all AMC safety offices of what we are looking for. The local safety offices work in conjunction with their Group and Wing CC's to find individuals within their wings that meet the qualifications we need. We then collect their nominations and weigh qualifications, experience, and upcoming conflicts. We also take into consideration how many boards each individual wing has contributed personnel to in recent history. We submit our recommendations for board president to 18 AF/CC for Class B mishaps, and AMC/CC for Class A's. All other board members are approved by AMC/SE with the exception of the Flight Surgeon who is selected through medical channels. After approval of the board members, we notify the individuals selected and they travel. Optimally, this whole process from notification to the board members moving takes approximately 24 hours.

Second, anybody can get picked for a board, and if you get picked, you have a contribution to make. I used to think you must have safety training to serve on a board. This is not true. There are several positions on a board that do not require safety trained personnel. If you are lucky enough to be one of them, you are there because of your expertise. Normally, the Board President must be a graduate of the Air Force Board President School. Likewise, the Investigating Officer has to have formal safety training. There are other positions that do not require such training. The pilot member does not require formal training, nor does the board recorder. The board may also have technical experts from maintenance, ATC, or weather who do not have safety training. Trust your training and your instincts, and don't be a wallflower. Make any and all contributions that you can. We regularly consulted with the recorders on two of the three boards I served on. We found ourselves needing to bounce ideas off somebody who was not intimately familiar with aviation and they could make sure our logic was not flawed. They were also excellent proof readers as they ensured the report was understandable to somebody who thought a fan was something on the flight deck to cool the crew off. People who do not work around aircraft regularly have no preconceived notions and can be a source for a fresh opinion.