New national aviation safety plan to tackle turbulence, emerging risks

Strengthening cabin safety and evacuation processes among 45 actions set out by CAAS

- Esther Loi

The Republic is taking steps to strengthen aviation safety by tackling turbulence and upgrading regulations for new technologies, among others.

On Sept 3, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) published a national aviation safety plan to address safety risks over the next three years amid growing air passenger volumes here.

Emerging safety challenges identified include increased air travel, global supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, manpower constraints, as well as new technologies and automation.

The plan focuses on four areas: operational safety, policies and rules to support growth without compromising safety, safety management and culture, and manpower development.

It sets out 45 actions for Singapore's aviation industry to take, which include strengthening cabin safety by managing turbulence, improving aircraft evacuation processes to minimise injuries and fatalities, as well as managing disruptive passengers.

Managing turbulence involves equipping flight crew with training to ensure that they are well prepared to handle such encounters, in addition to providing pilots and air traffic controllers with timely weather information to avoid areas with predicted turbulence, among others.

This is the second edition of the plan, coming after the first version that focused on the safe ramp-up of manpower and operations in the post-Covid-19-pandemic years from 2022 to 2024.