Yannick MALINGE

SVP - Head of Aviation Safety

Dear Aviation Colleagues,

Our safety community has been putting energy into identifying long-term safety threats and defining associated countermeasures. We started this journey decades ago by progressively improving the design of the aircraft (e.g. structural integrity, flight envelope protection, etc.), then realized that we had to address human factors (e.g. CRM), and more recently we concentrated on systemic threats.

We are rightly anticipating increasingly complex threats, and preparing ever smarter solutions. However, we must also ask ourselves if we are dedicating enough effort to today's threats and the effective deployment of existing countermeasures.
Safety is a daily, relentless, and concrete challenge. In an increasingly complex world with expanding fleets, our dedicated pursuit of safety remains critical, and our industry will  respond, as always.

Our safety culture requires more than just looking ahead. It also requires a strong focus on today. We must commit to deploying the solutions already in our hands and rigorously sticking to our industry's fundamental basics.
This issue of Safety first highlights the importance of the thorough application of the published procedures, and promotes a safety enhancement that is now becoming an industry standard to prevent runway overrun.  

I encourage you to share this publication with aviation professionals in your network who may not yet be familiar with it, and feel free to reuse its content to reach an even wider audience.
On behalf of the Airbus Aviation Safety team, I wish you, your family, friends, and colleagues a safe and prosperous new year.