What are your feelings about how the aviation industry, and air navigation services in particular, are currently performing in the field of safety?
The aviation industry has a long history of playing an active role in researching and advancing safety along with regulators and groups such as the Flight Safety Foundation. These partnerships have brought us to a high level of safety that must be praised. But no one is resting on their laurels and all segments of the industry continue to develop new procedures and technologies to increase the already high level of safety.I am particularly pleased with the increased efforts to adopt real safety management and reporting systems. Many ANSPs got off to late start, but have caught up rather quickly.

In these challenging days for world economy, and facing growing concerns about other subjects, such as the environment, how do you think that the priority of safety in ATM will be able to cope with those tradeoffs?
Increasing cost pressures will be challenging for some ANSPs, but I hope it will not have a direct impact on safety. I would like to thing cost pressures could be met by doing a better job of matching people and traffic rather than cutting back staffing when traffic is high and extra eyes are essential. Increasing the efficiency of the service without compromising safety will be tougher.That will involve implementation of new procedures and technologies.There is a big difference between installing equipment and procedures and actually delivering new efficiencies. For example, countless GPS and RNP approaches are being created, but it is difficult to find controllers or pilots that routinely use them. When operational demands are high, pilots and controllers use what they are comfortable with. It is tough to use the new procedures when all you want to do is get the airplanes on the ground without having an operational error. It is going to be difficult to overcome this operational inertia while being careful not to push the use of new procedures too aggressively.Another safety challenge will be the need to accept the fact that we will never know all of the safety threats. No matter how hard we try, systems and procedures will work differently in the operation than they do in the laboratory.As the pace of change increases, our safety reporting systems will have to be good, and we will have to pay close attention to them. Those systems will tell us about the real problems of the operation rather than the problems the engineers predicted. It is essential we plan for the unexpected.

What is your view about a future increasing harmonization of safety and performance indicators and targets?
The harmonization of performance indicators in the area of safety is very important. I am encouraged by the progress made by Eurocontrol in this area and I excited to see that work being applied in the United States. Common reporting criteria and taxonomies are particularly important as we move towards a harmonized development of NextGen and SESAR. These systems will have to be compatible, and it only makes sense we evaluate them using common safety measures. On the other hand, I am somewhat concerned about the blanket application of safety and efficiency targets across the ANSPs of the European community. Performance metrics and targets are powerful tools. They should be applied thoughtfully based on the situation of each ANSP. I would not want to see safety compromised in the pursuit of ill-considered targets.

Beyond the provision of "safe ATM services", what do you believe the role of ANSPs should be in the global aviation safety scenario?
It is very important that ANSPs focus on their real impact on the overall safety of the system. In the past the ANSPs were more worried about being blamed than being safe. When I was a young air traffic controller I supported the investigation of a major crash that killed 154 people. I remember working for hours, listening to tapes making sure that our ATC services were not to blame. Then when I went to the crash site and realized how little that matters compared to the tragedy that had occurred.Safety for an ANSP should not just be about avoiding blame, it should be about looking for opportunities to prevent tragedies. Sometimes we can talk pilots into things that are risky. It is the pilot's job to say no, so it technically isn't our fault if they accept the clearance, but it could be one more link in the chain of events that leads to a tragedy. It is time for us to stop hiding behind the rules, and look for opportunities to avoid risk.How would you summarize, in a few words, the effort and goals of the Flight Safety Foundation in the near future. For almost 65 years, the Flight Safety Foundation has worked with all segments of the industry to develop solutions to safety problems and that fundamental mission hasn't changed. As the air transportation system grows in both its size and complexity, the Flight Safety Foundation will always provide a place where ANSPs, airport operators, airlines, and manufacturers can sit together, identify systemic safety threats, and develop solutions. As NextGen and SESAR are implemented, I am sure there will be plenty of opportunities to bring people together to work on the big picture.