Gliding Australia Documents

When we talk about safety, we actually don’t talk about safety. We talk about the lack of it - the absence of it. We talk about incidents, we investigate accidents, we scratch our heads at the mismanagement of risk by our fellow pilots. We even measure our safety by the number of instances in which it was absent – for example, an accident rate. It is time to start doing, and seeing, safety differently.

Every Soaring Season we hear stories, usually third hand, about various on-road incidents involving members towing their gliders. Fortunately the majority of these incidents are minor but they all result in unexpected interruptions to travel and flying plans, and create unwanted frustration and unplanned expense. Unfortunately most of these incidents also go unreported within our Safety, Operations Airworthiness Reporting (SOAR) system where we collect data on your often unfortunate experiences, so we miss out on the opportunity to learn so that others can avoid similar expensive experiences. This Bulletin highlights some of the common events we heard about. 

In aviation, to operate safely, risks must be managed. One risk that can be removed is mistakes made by those affected by alcohol or other drugs. Alcohol and other drugs seriously affect performance.

This bulletin provides information to assist clubs develop a Drug and Alcohol Management policy under their Safety Management System.