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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Judicial Meddling in Safety Probes

During the 22nd Annual European Aviation Safety Seminar held in Lisbon, Portugal this week, the Flight Safety Foundation embraced recommendations to form a Multidisciplinary Task Force of legal experts from the aviation industry, law enforcement, judicial authorities, and the public to achieve "a balanced approach that is supportive of blameless reporting and sharing of critical aviation safety information, and the proper administration of justice." The FSF also asked governments worldwide to begin pooling resources, expertise, training, and authority better, and to form multi-national, independent air accident investigation boards. The FSF called upon an upcoming ICAO 'High Level Safety Conference' on March 29-April 1, 2010 in Montreal to convene a group of legal experts 'to urgently provide better protection of sources of safety information, including protection of witness statements and admission of errors against criminal prosecution, except in the most egregious of cases involving willful misconduct, drug or alcohol abuse, or falsification.'