Bob Agostino, Bombardier's director of flight operations and founder of the company's now-famous Safety Standdown program, is a man on a mission. He wants to slash the number of accidents caused by or involving pilot error. So, with the help of the NBAA and EBAA, he's bringing Safety Standdown to Europe for the first time this EBACE. The inaugural European Safety Standdown program, free to registrants, will be held in the Crans Room of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, right next to PalExpo, on Friday, May 25.

Agostino points out that while aircraft certification requirements have become progressively more stringent during the past three decades, pilot error rates have remained virtually unchanged. More than 8 of 10 aircraft accidents involve human error, not equipment failure. And the rate remains practically static in spite of greatly improved simulator-based initial and recurrent training programs in recent years.

"Simulator-based training is essential, but it's not sufficient. Pilots need knowledge-based training as well. That's because head work, not hand skills, continues to kill pilots and their passengers," Agostino told Show News. Runway excursions, CFIT accidents on landing approach and loss of control, not engine failure on takeoff, are all too frequent examples of aircraft accidents that involve pilot error.

When pilots relax their cockpit discipline, lapses in judgment can be particularly fatal. "Did you know that you're seven times more likely to have a fatal accident during a dead-head leg than when you're carrying passengers?" Agostino asks, quoting business aircraft accident statistics. Such mishaps aren't caused by lack of hand skills, so carefully honed during periodic simulator-based training.

Bombardier's annual Wichita-based Safety Standdown seminar is a three-day event that's now cosponsored by the NBAA and FAA. The first European Safety Standdown program, in contrast, will be a one-day event. On Thursday evening, prior to European Safety Standdown, the event sponsors will host a welcome reception in the Zermatt Room of the Crowne Plaza, at which Captain Gene Cernan, USN (Ret.), the last man to walk on the moon, will be the guest speaker.

Friday morning at 0800, the formal program begins with a "Welcome Aboard" by the three sponsors, followed by an introduction to Safety Standdown fundamentals presented by Agostino. Featured speakers include Anthony Kern, PhD, a longtime advocate for cockpit discipline and adherence to SOPs; Mark Rosekind, PhD, a leading expert in the effects of fatigue and countermeasures; and Jerome Berlin, PhD, a 40-year specialist in aviation psychology and, perhaps, one of the most effective and entertaining educators in the aviation industry. Gene Cernan will close the program at 1630.

The full 2007 Safety Standdown program will be held in Wichita from October 22 to 25. Pilots and aviation department managers operating all makes of aircraft and from all countries are welcome to enroll. Water survival, firefighting and cabin egress techniques are taught, along with CPR, first aid and AED procedures, plus classroom sessions on a variety of topics, including a 10-year accident recap presented by Aviation Week's Business & Commercial Aviation. All Safety Standdown programs are free to registrants.

For more information about Safety Standdown, both in Europe and the U.S., visit www.safetystanddown.com.