Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) will hold a panel discussion about criminal prosecutions in the wake of aircraft accidents at the European Aviation Safety Seminar (EASS) March 10–12, 2008, in Bucharest, Romania. The seminar is co-presented with the European Regions Airline Association.
"We are very concerned about increasing attempts by prosecutors to turn accidents into crime scenes and to prosecute aviation professionals based on tragic mistakes, often using information and data that are provided voluntarily to improve aviation safety," said President and CEO William Voss. "The safety of the traveling public depends on encouraging a climate of openness and cooperation following accidents. Overzealous prosecutions threaten to dry up vital sources of information and jeopardize safety."
The EASS panel will be moderated by FSF General Counsel Kenneth Quinn, a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop and former chief counsel for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Quinn has represented several aviation companies involved in grand jury investigations after accidents and served as counsel to SabreTech, which faced Federal criminal hazardous material charges and State of Florida murder and manslaughter charges in the wake of the ValuJet Flight 592 crash in May 1996.
On Oct. 18, 2006, the Foundation, England's Royal Aeronautical Society, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization in the Netherlands and the French Academie Nationale de L'Air et de L'Espace issued an unprecedented joint resolution denouncing the increasing tendency of law enforcement and judicial authorities to attempt to criminalize aviation accidents.
For more information or to register to attend the EASS, contact Namratha Apparao at Apparao@flightsafety.org