Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, let me say first what a pleasure it is to speak with you.
The Helicopter Association of Canada has been in existence since 1995 and has grown from a handful of operators to over 150 operator members and over 100 associates who provide goods and services to our operator members. Roughly 80% of the civil helicopters in Canada today are operated by HAC members, and we're the only national association in Canada dedicated exclusively to the interests of the Canadian helicopter community.
I intend to keep my presentation to you short and under the requested seven minutes, but I would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have with respect to your investigations during or following my presentation. Please don't hesitate to interrupt me.
I come to the committee with a background at the Transportation Safety Board, Transport Canada, the Air Transport Association of Canada, the Canadian Airports Council, and 23 years as a current helicopter pilot in the Canadian industry. I've been with the Helicopter Association of Canada, or HAC, as it is commonly referred to, as its president and CEO for the last 18 months. I've appeared with pleasure before this committee on a number of occasions in previous association alliances, but this is my first appearance before the committee representing HAC.
Our operator members have fleets that range in size from one to 250 helicopters. Canada boasts the second-largest civil helicopter fleet in the world. Since 2006 our accident rate has declined steadily, from 8.8 accidents per 100,000 hours to 5.7 accidents per 100,000 hours in 2008. Now, admittedly, that's still 40 accidents too many, but we're working on that, and our Canadian accident rate is still lower than virtually any other region in the world.
A number of the security-related items that form part of this committee's mandate are largely transparent to the Canadian helicopter community since most of our members are not based at airports, and even those who are do not operate from the terminal or between designated airports. Naturally, those who are based at airports or operate from them are still subject to airport security procedures and requirements, but mostly they operate smaller aircraft in the absence of screening—quite happily, I should add.
Most of our operations are conducted in remote areas where other means of transportation are difficult or impossible. Having said that, when I was invited to speak with you I could not pass up the opportunity to comment on the future of safety in an SMS context. But first, just a little more about HAC and the involvement of its members in safety.
Safety is at the top of our priority list. HAC is participating on the International Helicopter Safety Team, or IHST, an international effort aimed at reducing the accident rate for helicopters worldwide by 80% by 2016. Our association and its members have been focused in recent history on the development of industry best practices. We were developing best practices for the operation of helicopters in utility flight operations—that's hydro line maintenance, construction, and repair; in oil and gas operations; heli-ski and helicopter wildfire operations; the use of night vision glasses cooperatively with Transport Canada; class D external loads, where people are suspended below the helicopter, for mountain rescue operations, for example; the development of helicopter emergency medical services standards; and in recommended practices in a working group at the International Civil Aviation Organization.
These initiatives have been developed from inside the association's committees and most notably in the absence of any obligation to do so from Transport Canada, or anywhere else, for that matter. The best practices largely exceed the regulatory standard, or fill a void in the regulations where only the specialists in the industry are capable of developing and applying the latest and safest techniques for operating helicopters.
A number of our committees work closely with American and international groups who are focusing on similar issues in an effort to capitalize on evolving best practices being developed elsewhere. We are working closely with Transport Canada when there is an appetite from the regulator to develop standards based on what prudent and reasonable operators are doing in the field.
You should all understand that these initiatives flow very naturally from safety management system principles and are being driven by a move by Canadian certificate holders of all types—that means air navigation system providers, airports, air operators, etc.—to embrace safety management systems and the opportunities it presents.
Part of the promise of SMS has always been enhanced safety, but also the opportunity to have more influence over the evolution of our regulatory environment that historically has formed such a costly, cumbersome, and prescriptive part of our day-to-day lives in the helicopter industry. We welcome SMS if the minister is still prepared to walk the talk.
It also needs to be said that HAC and its members were floored by the minister's recent announcement to repatriate the oversight of administration of business aviation aircraft by the Canadian Business Aviation Association. The CBAA program was the only program of its kind in the world and was considered by many of us in the aviation community to represent a promising opportunity for other industry segments that are prepared to consider accepting the responsibility to assume more influence over their regulatory environment.
The minister's announcement landed like a hand grenade, and for many of us signalled a retreat by Transport Canada from the founding principles of SMS, and from the principle that industry, acting responsibly, would be given other opportunities to exercise oversight and administration.
The aviation community in Canada is filled with examples where industry is trusted to carry out part of the minister's mandate, including testing and checking pilots for commercial operations, administering exams, certifying major airframes and modifications, to name only a very few.
There is a long history of successful delegations of authority, and this is not, as some have characterized it, the fox minding the chicken coop.
These processes are all about controls, governance, and oversight for the industry body. There isn't anything we cannot accomplish with the right mix of these elements. What's more, SMS and the principles that underlie it form the most promising mechanisms to advance safety in Canada and the world.
For more detailed information relating to HAC and its members, I encourage you to contact me directly or to visit our website at www.h-a-c.ca.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I'd be pleased to field any questions you may have.