Military Aviation Safety Body announced
17/12/2009
The Ministry of Defence announced yesterday that they will set up an independent Military Aviation Authority to ensure "the highest safety standards". It is to be led by a 3-star Officer and staffed by 250 people who will regulate and audit all military aviation activities. The MAA will be in place by April 2010.
The announcement was largely a response to the review by Charles Hadden-Cave QC into the Nimrod crash in Afghanistan 2006.
The Hadden-Cave report did refer to shortcomings in the current Airworthiness system in the MOD generally (chapter 19) and proposed a new military Airworthiness regime (chapter 21) and a new approach to Safety Cases (chapter 22). There was also a proposal for a new attitude to Aged Aircraft (chapter 23) and a new Safety Culture (chapter 27).
Procurement and airworthiness were examined at the recent Inquest into a November 2007 Puma crash in Iraq in which Geraldine McCool of our MOD Unit represented the families of the deceased.
