Questão 645507

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Keynote Address

William R. Voss

Access to safe, affordable and sustainable air

transportation, has changed and will continue to change

the world. What we do connects the peoples and the

markets of the world. When we do it well, it changes

5 history. Aviation creates connections that lead to

opportunities. Aviation creates familiarity between

individuals that grows into trust, and trust that grows

into peace.

That is a fact. Let’s talk about some other facts

10 that have not changed in the last few months that

represent a foundation we can build on today. When

times are turbulent, it is easy to forget that economics

is an indicator of human activity. It does not necessarily

drive human activity. In July of this year, the chief

15 economist of Goldman Sachs came out with a report

that the middle class of the world will grow by 2 billion

over the next 20 years. Right now 70 million join the

ranks of the middle class every year. By 2027, that rate

will accelerate to 90 million a year.

20 What is different about this new generation is how

badly it needs aviation. My father was able to ride

between cities on slow-moving freight trains. For the

most part, the emerging middle class doesn’t even have

that option. They live where transportation infrastructure

25 is substandard or nonexistent. They need to be able to

get goods to market, they need to move themselves to

where the work is.

In addition, this new generation needs stability.

Many of these young people live in countries whose

30 borders include fragmented groups that have grown

apart through centuries of isolation. The isolation must

end if these countries are to survive and if peace is to

become firmly established. Aviation can connect those

people, and that connection must occur.

35 As these people achieve new wealth, their

spending on transportation will increase dramatically.

Since 1990, the share of income the average Chinese

worker spends on transportation and communications

has gone up more than 2,500 percent. Air transportation

40 remains essential. Its growth is inevitable. It is up to us

to keep it safe.

What must we do to achieve that?

I have been presented with many safety problems

around the world, but I can think of few problems I have

45 seen in aviation safety where the solutions were not

already known. Aviation safety is limited not by our

ability to understand, but our ability to act. Our ability to

act is limited in turn by our ability to speak clearly to

each other and to those that govern us about what we

50 do, and what needs to be done.

I have discussed these problems directly with

heads of state, and even they feel powerless to act.

This is not the type of problem that inspires legislators

or politicians. This is the type of problem that tends to

55 wait for a concentration of tragedies, economic

debacles or both.

Another issue that plagues all of us is our ability to

collect and protect the data that keep the system safe.

These are the data that warn us of simple errors before

60 they become major tragedies. We know that the way

to keep a system safe is not to focus solely on the one-

in-a million tragedies, but instead to pay careful attention

to the hundreds of small mistakes that happen every

day. Addressing these problems when they are small

65 gives the public higher levels of safety and saves

operators money. It is a win-win approach, but getting

and keeping that information that feeds it is proving

difficult.

I could list many more challenges but they all come

70 to a similar point. We don’t have a lot of technical

problems anymore. We have systemic problems that

are sensitive and difficult to address. Perhaps today

we could start by talking with each other about those

difficult issues that lie below the surface.

FAA International Aviation Safety Forum

December 2, 2008

Washington, DC

Retrieved from: http://www.flightsafety.org/pdf/voss_faa_120208.pdf

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