SEMET Safety Update End Of Summer 2024
April - September 2024
Welcome back to the next safety update via the new format on the SEMET website. To those who are fairly new to SEMET and a reminder to those who are not, these updates are to share with you the performance of our safety system and give you a general idea for the range of safety events we have at the club.
As you can see, every reported safety event has an impact on the statistics and therefore, our awareness and potential actions taken to mitigate any stand out trends or threats. In short, every report matters, so thank you to all that have reported via the safety system.
Statistics
As summer has well and truly ended now we can reflect back on the reports made and look at how our reporting performance is progressing.
Headline reporting rate of 2.4% below our target of 3.5% but much higher than the previous summer reporting rate of under 1%. Let’s continue this upward trend with more reports
Chart 1. SEMET Aviation Safety reports rate as a percentage of movements
Report categories showing increases in OTH - Other category events. Generally these events involve a threat to safety that we don’t currently have a category for, but if a trend starts to develop we may well add a category to capture this.
Chart 2. SEMET Aviation report categories as a percentage of total reports
Still high on the agenda is SCF - System / Component Failure of Malfunction and MAC - Mid Air Collision. A reminder that these categories are capturing events that have shown an increased risk towards the category title. For example an aircraft that was spotted as not tied down could pose a collision risk if it moves in strong winds, this report would be categorised as GCOL.
SCF
For these issues we are currently working hard with our maintenance providers to ensure the aircraft are safe primarily but also at the specifications required to enjoy the flying experience. We can continue to help with this by reporting defects via the CloudBase techlog defects and following the defect reporting process in the Flight Ops manual. A copy of this process can be found on the wall in Ops. A flight instructor will always assist if you are unsure of a defect so please ask!
MAC
Mid air conflict event reports focus usually on other aircraft joining the circuit at Blackbushe in a way that surprises the pilot who is already in the circuit and has reported the event. This indicates how relatively often an aircraft is either missed in the circuit when joining, or a join is misjudged creating a closer than comfortable situation.
SkyEcho2 electronic conspicuity device
Some of our aircraft have in built Traffic Advisory systems that will alert pilots to potential conflicts. For the aircraft not fitted with these systems we have SkyEcho electronic conspicuity devices which can be borrowed from Ops. When connected to a personal electronic device they have similar alerting functions. Please ask a flight instructor if you want more info on your aircraft alerts or need help setting up the SkyEcho.
These devices however will not show all traffic and therefore do not dispense of a good Lookout being the primary method for see and avoid mitigation. Judging when to join can often be a fine art. If unsure, slowing to a slow, safe cruise flight or delaying your join until a gap is obvious are two ways to arrive safely with good separation in the circuit.
SEMET student using a visual lookout in a PA28
For further reading on a reported Blackbushe event in the circuit please follow this link:
These two event categories above, tend to trend higher as reporters will usually feel they are more out of their control and just a result of the inherent risks of aviation. It’s great that these events are being reported and to build on this as a club we will need more reporting of safety events that we feel may have been more within our control. For this it’s beneficial to remind everyone that we have a Just Culture within the SEMET safety system to give reporters the confidence to report everything that occurs that affects safety.
Just Culture
Our Just Culture within SEMET accepts that as humans we all make errors from time to time, there is no getting around that. When reporting these unintentional errors an individual should feel comfortable in doing so and SEMET will endeavour to support the reporter in any development required. If as pilots we don’t feel supported, it makes it hard to bring up errors, so our Just Culture should empower you to make safety reports that have included your own errors with no judgement. No risk of penalty should exist if errors/actions are unintentional and not subject to significant negligence.
Further Reporting
As always thank you to all of those who submitted a safety report over the summer, helping to contribute to making SEMET the safest club and training organisation we can be.
SEMET Aviaition Reporting Form
Let’s all continue to work together and keep getting those reports in, improving safety for everyone.
Along with the QR codes around the clubhouse, anything affecting flight safety can be reported here via the SEMET website:
As ever, we’re available to answer any queries you may have related to reporting or general safety via: safety@semetaviation.co.uk
