European Commercial Aviation Safety Team (ECAST)

ECAST addresses large fixed wing aircraft operations, and aims to further enhance commercial aviation safety in Europe, and for European citizen worldwide. It was launched in October 2006.  ECAST is a partnership between EASA, other European regulators and the aviation industry. ECAST is based on the principle that industry can complement regulatory action by voluntary committing to cost effective safety enhancements. 

ECAST cooperates with US CAST and with other major safety initiatives worldwide, in particular the ICAO Regional Aviation Safety Group (RASG) and Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme (COSCAP).  The  ECAST Plenary leads the initiative and take strategic decisions for the Team. The Plenary allocates work to the working-groups and review and approve the deliverables. 

Technical Working-groups

Ground Safety

The Ground Safety Team promotes and facilitate at European level the adoption of best practices on training for Ground Handlers. The team was launched in Feb 2009 and coordinate with major ground safety initiatives including ISAGO by IATA and GHOST by CAA UK.

Link to the Ground Safety page and the dedicated Ramp Resource Management (RRM) page.

Runway Excursion Prevention

European Working Group for Runway Excursion Prevention (EWGRS) was lead by EUROCONTROL. Link to the Runway Safety page.

Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Safety Culture

The objective of the ECAST activity on SMS was to provide to stakeholders guidance on safety management in support to regulatory materials being developed by ICAO and EASA. Link to the deliverables of the ECAST SMS/SC working-group.

New: On the EASA SMS page, you will find an overview of the various activities that are being carried out towards the regulation and implementation of safety management at various levels in the EU aviation system.

Standing Teams and initiatives

Safety Analysis

This team is the analysis force of ECAST and the methodology Sub-Group: The ECAST Safety Analysis Team has established a Methodology Sub-Group tasked to propose a suitable methodology to support a data-driven approach for ECAST.

European Operators FDM Forum (EOFDM)

The EOFDM is a project of a voluntary partnership between European aeroplane operators and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in order to facilitate the implementation of Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) programmes and to help operators in drawing the maximum safety benefits from an FDM programme. Link to the EOFDM page.

 

Documents, articles and links:

  1. ICAO Working-Paper: Update on ECAST (Feb 2013),
  2. Process Chart,
  3. Working-Paper on ECAST for the ICAO 37th General Assembly,
  4. Article by B. de Courville, ECAST co-Chair – Corporate safety culture in commercial aviation (October 2011),
  5. List of Safety events.