Survey will enhance European GA safety

The confidential survey, which is supported by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Aero Friedrichshafen, will be available online until April 5.

GAMA and IAOPA are striving to increase participation over last year’s survey, which they described as “highly successful, with responses covering over 6,000 general aviation aircraft in 32 European countries.” EASA used the 2019 survey results in the year’s Annual Safety Review to determine accident rates for noncommercial airplanes.

“This survey is an important step for a better understanding of General Aviation activity across Europe. Conducting this survey on a yearly basis will help us focus our improvements for General Aviation safety,” said EASA Head of General Aviation Dominique Roland.

Michael Erb, senior vice president of IAOPA-Europe, noted steady improvement in the survey’s output since the collaborative effort began.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it,” he said.

Erb pointed out that European aviation authorities do not have a complete picture of European GA activities because most of the European Union’s member states are not collecting GA data.

“And that’s a problem for European Rulemaking: It’s impossible to observe trends, to make judgements about General Aviation’s safety, if it’s improving or worsening,” he wrote in an email to AOPA. “To generate reliable GA-data IAOPA-Europe started a first successful online survey in 2014, and then joined forces with GAMA in 2018. The cooperation with GAMA has been very constructive from the very beginning, and we are proud to see that our results are continuously improving.”

Preliminary survey results will be presented at Aero Friedrichshafen, April 1 to 4 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. “AERO Friedrichshafen as the leading General Aviation show in Europe is proud to support this initiative led by GAMA and IAOPA to improve the safety of General Aviation,” said Aero 2020 Project Leader Roland Bosch.

For additional information contact Cate Brancart, GAMA manager of European Operations and Safety, or Dr. Michael Erb, senior vice president of IAOPA Europe.