The Federal Aviation Administration held is 2023 Safety Summit March 15.
Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen expressed his satisfaction with seeing familiar faces in the audience during the summit's opening remarks. The summit was convened due to increased incidents across the aviation system.
"Aviation safety depends on everyone playing their part, identifying challenges early and addressing them quickly. This week, the FAA is bringing together aviation leaders to do just that," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a March 14 post on Twitter.
Nolen stressed the significance of taking notice of recent events and listening to the system to promote safety in his remarks. Challenging inquiries were raised, including whether efficiency was being given precedence over safety and if the CAST process was sufficiently agile to eliminate worrying incidents.
The summit aimed to enhance the world's safest transportation system's safety even further, according to Nolen's remarks.
"The biggest mistake we can make as an industry is to become complacent," Nolen said in his remarks. "As a safety professional, if you are comfortable it means you're probably missing something."
Nolen encouraged those attending the summit to keep an open mind and help focus on increasing vigilance and safety, according to his remarks. He also said he wanted to hear from stakeholders and future actions that can "make the world's safest transportation system even safer."
"We are particularly concerned because we have seen an uptick in serious close calls that we must address together," Buttigieg said in his remarks at the summit, convened after a series of close calls and one incident of an aggressive passenger.
A near close-call incident occurred at Reagan National Airport March 7 when Republic Airways Flight 4736 crossed a runway without clearance, which involved two planes during takeoff, according to a Fox News report. Fortunately, no passengers were harmed. The FAA is currently investigating the incident, and no further information has been disclosed.
