Transport committee  Thank you, Chair. Companies are getting what's called a program validation inspection. Now, inspections can be anything from an airplane inspection to an inspection of a personnel licence. What they're doing now is a program validation inspection that is a portion of the SMS pro

Transport committee  I can't remember what the question was. There have been so many things.

Transport committee  Could you read it again, please?

Transport committee  They absolutely should. That would make sense.

Transport committee  No.

Transport committee  That's a good question because it gets right to the core of aviation safety, and the improvement and the lack of need for SMS. It's on many fronts that aviation gets safer. It gets safer in the designs of aircraft, and that is very often mainly a result of research but also of ac

Transport committee  I believe that's what the Transport.... May I speak, sir?

Transport committee  Okay, thank you. What the Auditor General wrote is what Transport Canada told the Auditor General. I believe that's just a quotation of the—

Transport committee  I've read all three reports from 2007, 2008, and 2012, as stating things that the Auditor General is in no way qualified to state.

Transport committee  That's just reading from past records. The framework is there. The Aeronautics Act is there, the air regulations are there, the standards are there, and they were being used for inspections and audits. But under the new system, they're not being used anymore. The framework is the

Transport committee  Absolutely. It has become much safer, in my view and in my experience, and also on the world international level. Statistically it is much safer.

Transport committee  It's out there. I don't know if you need to salvage it, because it's out there. It seems to be the focus of Transport Canada as the magic bullet that will remedy all problems. But it's only a small part of the actual operations of the actual aviation. SMS is not a huge implement

Transport committee  Thank you very much. Can you hear me okay?

Transport committee  Thank you, Chair. Honourable members, my name is Norman Chalmers. I'm the president of Pacific Airworthiness Consulting. I have 47 years of experience in the business of aviation safety and aircraft airworthiness, including 25 years in Transport Canada Civil Aviation in various