In August, FAA and CANSO hosted a seminar on “Effective Safety Oversight of ANSP Safety Management Systems”, attended by 81 participants from eight countries. The seminar discussed the roles and responsibilities of regulators and air navigation service providers; the overview of air traffic safety oversight responsibilities; and application strategies for concepts contained in the ICAO Safety Oversight Manual. Practical exercises provided the participating regulators and ANSPs with tools and strategies to improve the implementation of international standards.
The CANSO Africa Conference, hosted by Ghana CAA, in Accra, focused on key ATM issues in Africa and saw lively participation and debate from the 126 participants. There was much discussion on separating regulation from service provision with ANSPs providing useful case studies. Challenges identified included funding, splitting the assets, change management, and building trust between the separated entities. In the session on matching equipage with the Aviation System Block Upgrades, ANSPs were urged to prioritise in line with ICAO guidelines and implement new technologies such as space-based ADS-B. Another session looked at how sovereignty need not be a barrier to providing air traffic services across borders and called for greater collaboration between civil and military. Another panel shared experiences of implementing collaborative decision-making and highlighted the efficiencies made.
View photographs of the conference and the speaker presentations on the event page.
CANSO Members in Africa signed a declaration that commits ANSPs to form teams to conduct peer reviews of each other’s safety management systems. The initiative will enable participating ANSPs to standardise the elements of their safety management systems, thus facilitating enhanced data analysis, safety risk management and performance measurement, which are key enablers for higher overall levels of safety improvement. CANSO encourages all ANSPs to embrace this initiative and make Africa’s skies even safer.
In September, CANSO, in partnership with FAA, delivered a safety training programme to 92 delegates. The purpose was to improve the level of safety investigation and Just Culture in Africa. The topics discussed were: incident investigation, safety management system and Just Culture, Human factors of ATS incidents, documentation of investigation findings, listening techniques, and incident research, preparation and planning.
For the first time, there are two CANSO Members from the Africa Region on the CANSO Executive Committee. At the CANSO AGM in June, Captain Gilbert Kibe of Kenya CAA was elected as Member at Large. The Executive Committee elected Thabani Mthiyane of ATNS as its Vice Chair.
The CANSO Africa CEO Committee (AFC3) confirmed the focus areas for the Africa Region with workshops planned for collaborative decision-making (CDM), implementing performance-based navigation (PBN), how to avoid missing flight plans, safety oversight and implementing safety management systems (SMS). AFC3 also agreed to organise an ATM inspectors’ workshop in partnership with FAA in Zambia on 22-26 August 2016. The aim of this workshop is to improve oversight and auditing in the ATM environment.
CANSO helped organise the ICAO AFI Aviation Week in Malabo in July. The objectives of the meeting were to: review the status of implementing the various ICAO aviation safety and security initiatives for Africa; share success stories and challenges; and agree strategies to further enhance safety in the region. The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), which is responsible for monitoring safety targets, reported that runway safety-related incidents have halved since 2012, as a result of creating safety teams at airports. Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) related accidents and serious incidents have halved; and loss of control (LOC) related accidents have halved. The establishment of autonomous CAAs has increased marginally with most countries reporting that their initiatives are ongoing. However, the certification of air traffic control centres has still not been achieved.
The fourth CANSO Africa Conference will take place in Accra, Ghana on 12-14 September, kindly hosted by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority.
The Africa CANSO CEO Committee (AFC3) confirmed its decision to support the Africa ANSPs Safety initiative whose intention is to improve the level of safety in ATM in Africa. AFC3 agreed that CANSO should lead all the ANSP related issues in Africa and endorsed the CANSO Standard of Excellence in SMS questionnaire as a standard tool for the peer review and assessment of safety performance in the region. AFC3 encouraged CANSO Members to volunteer expert staff to be part of a select group of reviewers for the conduct of the programme. A team was identified to support CANSO to draft a plan and guidelines for review. These will be presented at the next meeting of the Africa ANSP Safety initiative in September 2016. There are currently three peer review teams in operation: Uganda CAA, Kenya CAA, Tanzania CAA, Rwanda CAA and Burundi CAA; ASECNA and ATNS; Ghana CAA and NAMA.
As part of its policy to partner with other aviation industry players, CANSO conducted an exhibition promoting CANSO during the Africa Ministerial meeting in Namibia; and the Airports Council International Annual General Meeting in Cairo, both in April.
The Africa ANSP Safety meeting took place in December where ANSPs presented updates on implementing the peer review mechanism. This meeting was attended by nine ANSPs, as well as CAAs and industry organisations such as AFCAC and ICAO from Africa.
ICAO had developed the ANSP Peer Support Manual which it recommended as a practical guide alongside the CANSO Standard of Excellence in Safety Management Systems. The working group will consider both documents and provide feedback. The next meeting will focus on ensuring a consistent approach and also addressing some concerns highlighted by some ANSPs. These included: lack of just culture policy within the Africa ANSPs; possible confidentiality issues during implementation; not enough staff to implement SMS; and that SMS implementation is not a priority in many of the organisations. The ANSPs made recommendations to co-opt safety experts from other Members ANSPs to supplement the peer review team; and to develop and agree a framework for ensuring the confidentiality of the report(s) of the peer review exchange mission.