Common Frequency Areas Survey

I am conducting a research project on Common Frequency Areas such as but not limited to 122.9, 123.02, 122.92. I am mostly doing the study for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The study is about the hazards that could be associated with Common Frequency Areas. Such hazards in uncontrolled airspace can be extended to operation within uncontrolled aerodromes.

I have put out a short 10 question survey which would take less than 5 minutes. I would appreciate it if you were to take a short period of your time to help with this research project. My goal for this research is to identify and confirm the hazards and to help increase safety by making an awareness of such hazards.

The survey can be found here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PY6673Q


Any information given is de-identified and will be used solely for the purpose of the research and nothing else.
Any questions and/or comments can be directed to ramzel14@gmail.com.

Thank you for your time.

Movie Makeup a Security Threat

So there was this article today on the news about a young asian man from Hong Kong who went on a Vancouver-bound flight disguised as an old man using expert prostetics.

He apparently went to the lavatory as an old man and came out a young asian man.

Pictures and the full article can be found here

What does this mean for the Aviation/Airline industry and Security of Transportation?
Well for one, it is a serious threat to be able to have completely falsified identities coming in to Canada or any other country for that matter. Who knows if this technology will be used by further security threats or national security threats on the bigger scale.

Something must be done right? Are we gonna start pulling on peoples faces to see if they're real or not?
Who knows.

you CAN be too careful

There's a saying that goes, you can never be too careful. And clearly they are talking about safety and being on the cautious side of things. I think that's wrong or partially incorrect. It is possible to be too careful and it can be costly at times.

Aviation whether it's a flight training, air taxi, airline or any other company in between has always revolved around the topic of safety. It is the core, the foundation, the epicenter of the whole infrastructure of what we call Aviation. Anything that has to do with flying, has to do with safety. If it wasn't the case, the whole flying industry would literally and figuratively plummet from the sky. But what if these companies decide to all of the sudden think you can never be too careful?

Well if by being too careful means taking no risk, well then unpack your bags cause your airline may not be flying anymore. In flying there are all sorts of hazards that are at risk, to name a few there's wind, weather, system failures and so on. But that doesn't mean you wouldn't take an airplane through weather with some wind and well the systems are kind of important to keep the airplane flying. And risk, well everyone has their own perception of risk which depends on many factors like past experience and so on (that's a whole can of worms.)

That's the reason why safety isn't defined as the absence of risk...instead it's a condition that exists when hazards are managed to an acceptable risk. (straight from my safety management systems course).

So if by being too careful means you aren't taking risk then the quote you can never be too careful is simply wrong. Take your risks and manage them according to your own perception and level of acceptance. You may not be running a multi-million dollar company but you will definitely be rewarded in some way, shape or form. High risk means high reward (usually)

"Being scared means you're onto something important. If you're not scared then you're not taking chances, if you're not taking chances then what the hell are you doing?" 
- HIMYM