The Aerospace Safety Mandate

Who is the ICAO? What is their purpose? What are some core impedances to global aviation safety?

The ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization, is an organization that helps regulate aviation safety. “The International Civil Aviation Organization was born at the International Aviation Conference that took place in Chicago in November and December 1944” (MacKenzie, 2000, pg 25). “The Second World War was a powerful catalyst for the technical development of the airplane. A vast network of passenger and freight carriage was set up during this period, but there were many obstacles, both political and technical, to evolving these facilities and routes to their new civilian purposes... Many of the countries they represented were still occupied. In the end, 54 of the 55 States invited attended the Chicago Conference, and by its conclusion on 7 December 1944, 52 of them had signed the new Convention on International Civil Aviation which had been realized.” (ICAO, n.d.). This “Chicago Convention” marked the beginning of the formation of standards for safe global air travel. Before the ICAO, there was little to no air travel regulation, standards, or uniform procedures in a time when air travel was beginning to grow more and more. “It set out as its prime objective the development of international civil aviation “…in a safe and orderly manner”, and such that air transport services would be established “on the basis of equality of opportunity and operated soundly and economically. ICAO’s core mandate, then as today, was to help States to achieve the highest possible degree of uniformity in civil aviation regulations, standards, procedures, and organization.” (ICAO, n.d.).

1919 was the year when the international air transport industry was born, even despite the fact that the first scheduled air service had operated across Tampa Bay, Florida (U.S.A.) during the first four months of 1914. 1919 also marked the year when the precursor to the current International Air Transport Association (IATA, representing world scheduled airlines) was established, when representatives of five air transport companies from Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, and Sweden meet at The Hague, Netherlands, to sign an agreement to form the International Air Traffic Association. Up until 1919, and for many years afterward, much of the world’s commercial air transport activity was focused upon the carriage of airmail…” (ICAO, n.d.). The problem was that, even though air travel was focused on the carriage of mail, there 3 were little to no regulations protecting the safety of the aircraft globally. The significance of this problem is that without the ICAO, which creates regulations for aviation safety, security, efficiency and regularity, and environmental protection, regulates operating practices and procedures covering the technical field of aviation, ensures smooth air transportation and border crossing procedures, ensures the fair opportunity to operate international airlines, promote flight safety, and minimize expenses and penalties (To make better decisions, you need to see the big picture, 2021), people in the aviation field would not have any of the benefits listed above that the organization has created.

The organization holds meetings and events frequently, as of recent they’ve held high-level conferences on COVID-19, task force meetings, meetings on environmental protection, tactical action group meetings, and in the past have held numerous ICAO council meetings and meetings on the improvement of air traffic services over the South Atlantic (ICAO, n.d.). Carbon emission specifically is a threat to the environment and the problem has only continued to heighten over time. Luckily, the ICAO ESAF Regional Office, under the guidance of the ICAO Headquarters, provides support on aviation environmental protection to the 24 States under its umbrella. This is to improve the environmental performance of aviation in the Region. The ESAF Region's environmental priorities range from support with information on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs), Carbon Offsetting, and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) implementation (ICAO, n.d.). A more specific example is that a "High-Level Meeting on International Aviation and Climate Change was held by ICAO, where they adopted a target of a global annual average fuel efficiency improvement of 2%" for the airline industry through 2020 and "an aspirational global fuel efficiency improvement rate of 2% per annum in the long term from 2021 to 2050 (ICAO sets 2% fuel improvement goal for the airline industry, 2009). The advantages of the ICAO holding virtual meetings open to the public are the fact that they make people more aware 4 of the environment, aviation, and how many new solutions can be made when organizations work together. The disadvantages are that people who attend these virtual meetings cannot take very much action unless they go and get involved in these official organizations. Another example is the Eighteenth Meeting on the improvement of Air Traffic services over the South Atlantic; the organization is about to have its twenty-fifth meeting on the subject. Angola Air navigation Service Provider ENANA has a plan of action to restore gradually the operation of the current unserviceable VSAT VHF ER System, Very Small Aperture Terminal, Very High Frequency- Extended Range system (INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA OFFICE, n.d.). The advantage of meetings like this is to again maintain the safety of global aviation. The disadvantage is the time frame in which these actions would take place. The long-term planned actions, not the long-term planned solutions, would take six to more months.

I believe that the ICAO should continue to hold meetings and conferences that the public can attend virtually so that awareness can be brought to problems within the aviation field. With more people knowledgeable on these current issues, potentially more action can be taken towards them and they can be solved faster.

References

ICAO. (n.d.). The history of ICAO and the Chicago Convention. The History of ICAO and the Chicago Convention.https://www.icao.int/about-icao/History/Pages/default.aspx.

ICAO sets a 2% fuel improvement goal for the airline industry. (2009). Air Transport World, 46(11), 9. http://ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-jour nals/icao-sets-2-fuel-improvement-goal-airline/docview/224263596/se-2?accountid =27203

INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA OFFICE (Ed.). (n.d.). SAT 18 report International Civil Aviation - ICAO. Eighteenth Meeting on the improvement of Air Traffic services over the South Atlantic (SAT/18) . https://www.icao.int/WACAF/Documents/Meetings/2013/CNMC3_SAT_FIT8_SA T18/SAT_18/SAT%2018%20DRAFT%20REPORT.pdf.

MacKenzie, D. C. (2000). Icao: A history of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The University of Toronto Press. To make better decisions, you need to see the big picture. IHS Markit. (2021.) .https://ihsmarkit.com/products/icao-standards.html