Throughout May and the first two weeks of June, ICAS conducted a survey of its event organizer and performer members to explore issues related to event organizers, their perspectives on air show safety, what they can do to improve air show safety, and what they are already doing to preserve it.
In all, more than 250 ICAS members participated in the survey: 105 event organizers and 152 performers. Their responses will be detailed in the third quarter issue of Air Shows Magazine, but we wanted to give you a brief summary of some of the more interesting results.
- 88.1 percent of event organizers and 77.2 percent of performers agreed that event organizers have a critical role to play in reducing the number of air show accidents each year.
- More than four-fifths of performers said that individual performers are most responsible for preserving safety at air shows while slightly more than a quarter of event organizers surveyed said that performers are most responsible for safety. A third of event organizers said that it was the “waiver signer” who is most responsible for safety. Another third of event organizers identified the air boss as being most responsible for air show safety.
- Approximately two-thirds of event organizers and half of the performers said that they think that the future of air shows is threatened if the industry’s accident rate is not decreased.
- 86 percent of event organizers say that their decision to hire a performer has been affected by their perception of whether or not that performer is “safe.”
- 61.4 percent of event organizers and 61.9 percent of performers said that prospective air bosses should have worked as a secondary or “mini” boss at either 3-5 or 6-10 previous shows.
- 56.8 percent of event organizers said that air bosses should have some air traffic control experience. Half said that an air boss should have a private pilot certificate.
