Questions to Bruno Fargeon, Head of Safety Promotion

In aerospace, "safety" is first and foremost. We talked to Bruno Fargeon, Head of Safety Promotion for Airbus Commercial Aircraft, to discuss the importance of safety for the industry:

1. Bruno, how can we leverage a more robust 'Safety culture' in our industry and maintain this culture as the workforce undergoes a massive generational shift? 

In a world where commercial aviation steadily developed since the 1970s, cruising at 35.000 feet in a comfortable and safe environment is a given, it’s part of everyone’s standard expectations.

Gradually, we might have lost track of how challenging this is, and being the safest transportation mode for decades has created a risk of complacency.

The younger individuals who enter the air transport world are certainly equipped with the right knowledge to face new challenges. But our industry needs to remember how much of a collective tragedy an aircraft accident is, and how only together we can find solutions to prevent them to a maximum.

Team work, personal engagement, prevention mindset, never give up, constant learning, challenging certitudes, speak-up, just and fair, going the extra mile, respecting facts, etc. All these are key values and behaviours which we need to pass on to the younger professionals in order to reinforce our aviation safety culture.

It is our duty as safety leaders: we owe this to the air transport industry and to the future passengers. And today’s newcomers will do the same when becoming leaders in the future, so that this safety experience remains vivid.

But I believe all the above anchors into an even deeper foundation: the passion for flight.

2. We are seeing a massive shift in technology in the last decade, how has that revolutionized the Safety industry?

Technology has been key to improving Aviation Safety since the first commercial aircraft entered-into-service. This continued on until today, and I believe will continue in the future.

Out of a long list of examples, we can highlight a few more recent ones such as the capacity to interconnect the various components of the air transport system, and the fusion between their data sources.

Flight crews in the cockpit can benefit from enhanced situational awareness on complex environments such as weather or GNSS* spamming/spoofing, brought by data fusion and high speed communication channels.

And when landing on an airport, the Runway Overrun Prevention System (ROPS) of an Airbus will compare its level of energy (height, speed, weight) versus the characteristics of the runway (geometry, surface, contamination), and advise the crew on whether it is safe to land or better to perform a go-around.

Another good example on the ground is what data analytics brought to us; today, we have improved capacity for scanning the sheer volume of available flight and safety related data, and identify weak signals of future threats.

3. What are today’s most important safety related challenges we see in the industry?

The first and foremost safety related challenge is the direct consequence of the success of our industry: traffic growth. More aircraft flying and a denser airspace result in a higher risk exposure. This is why we cannot be complacent in front of our safety records. Safety can only be a permanent quest to reach zero accidents.

The second challenge is to ensure that we do not face safety occurrences which we have faced in the past, and thought we had eradicated. What we call a “deja-vu”. Seeing safety improving is naturally very positive, but, as accidents or serious incidents become less frequent, we are at risk of forgetting. Keeping the memory of past occurrences and maintaining the adequate prevention means is a must.

The third challenge is the systemic nature of risks, where several actors, their organizations, and their business processes combine to form numerous, complex, and diffuse root causes. It is not a novelty and we have been addressing these "systemic" risks for years. But until now, they were mainly in the hands of the aviation industry professionals who could mitigate them. New risks - such as the Li-Ion battery fire -  emerge, where many stakeholders including the customer passenger have a key role to play.

4. Bruno, you’ve spent over 30 years at the heart of Airbus; when you look at the 'Safety Culture' of a cockpit today versus when you started, what is the one thing that gives you the most pride—and what is the one thing that still keeps you awake at night?

We must pay a tribute to the visionary engineers who designed the A320. This has been a true aircraft revolution. 40 years after its maiden flight, its key design principles remain valid and can still be found on the latest Airbus aircraft. Flight envelope protection, dark cockpit philosophy, cross crew qualification, automation, etc.; I am convinced that all has been key to improving safety. But this revolution was only possible because of our mindset evolution; accepting then valuing diversity, placing humans at the heart of our aircraft, having a collective safety approach. I am truly proud (and grateful) of the positive role the Airbus community plays in these aspects.

When talking about being awake at night, I am fortunate to be a good sleeper. My trust in the global aviation community for doing the right thing in terms of safety certainly contributes to it. But part of this trust comes from the passion for aviation which I can sense in our community. Should this passion diminish, I would probably wake up more often at night. Commercial aviation in the 1980s was not new, but you could feel a strong pioneering spirit; we need to make sure this lasts. This passion is what will continue to fuel our quest for safety.

*GNSS: Global Navigation Satellite System

For more information contact:
Elodie Battaglia
Communications Officer VIE
elodie.battaglia@airbus.com