The 13th edition of Safety Standdown, Bombardier's annual safety seminar, took place in Wichita, KA September 28 to October 1. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman, and NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen delivered opening remarks at this year's installment.

The safety seminar offered three full days of lectures and one day of practical training workshops. "Safety Standdown was designed to challenge pilots and crew to expand their understanding of the human factors involved in aviation accidents," said Rick Rowe, chief pilot, Learjet.

Return presenters include Dr. Mark Rosekind, president and chief scientist, Alertness Solutions, who was recently nominated to join Hersman as a member of the Safety Board.

FAA Administrator Babbitt, a former airline pilot, had questions for those attending the air safety event.

Are you reporting for duty rested and prepared? Are you continuously refreshing your knowledge? Are you rigorously following checklists and procedures? Do you discipline yourself to stay at least 10 miles ahead of the aircraft? Do you use quiet moments to make productive use of the time, something such as briefing, rechecking the FMS, or plan? Do you brief thoroughly and communicate clearly to ATC and your crew, including flight attendants? Do you fly with precision? Do you push to a higher standard of professional flying? In that context, you should read "professional" and "disciplined" as meaning one in the same thing. Do you honestly provide feedback to your flying partner? Do you honestly provide feedback to your flying partner about your own performance? As aviation professionals, whether you're a pilot or not, you've got to be running through this list of questions, or a list just like it, every day. Babbitt updated the attendees on agency efforts to rewrite long-standing crew rest rules.

As a pilot, I'm just like you: And like you, I've been around the block. Because of that experience, I was especially pleased to put together a rulemaking committee on flight, rest and duty. We've been struggling with a one-size-fits-all rule for 40 years but we have science and common sense behind us today. Anyone who flies knows that this issue's always looking over our shoulder. A change to the rules is long overdue. Despite the best efforts of many, many professionals, some of whom I'll bet are in this room, we've not been able to reach consensus on proposals floated since the mid-1990s. This is why I've asked that this be accelerated. I think the planets are finally aligning on this; we've got the opportunity and the political will coming together at just the right time. Bottom line here is that we need something that makes sense for the carriers and their pilots. And Babbitt discussed the management of aviation safety.

Right here is a good time for me to make a pitch for SMS -- safety management systems. I think that we need to see greater use of the tools at hand, like safety management systems, across the board. When you have as few accidents as we do, it's difficult to spot a trend with a slope that has only three data points on it. SMS is the solution. We are working on SMS for Part 121, 135 and 145.

Safety Standdown is put on by a partnership that includes the NBAA, the FAA and the NTSB. The seminar is offered at no charge to all aviation professionals regardless of the type of aircraft they fly.