In 2020 EASA announced the winners of its first GA Safety Award. The award was launched in April last year at AERO 2019 as part of the Agency’s ongoing commitment to GA. The GA Safety Award recognises the most safety-beneficial smartphone/tablet application for use by GA pilots. Its aim is to promote development of reliable tools to improve safety, encourage investment in this area, support and enhance visibility of valuable products and further enhance the GA community’s engagement to safety.
The apps submitted were assessed against their ability to address one or more of the four major safety concerns identified in the European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS): Staying in control, managing the flight, Preventing mid-air collisions and coping with weather.
The prize winners
1st Prize - 8,000 €
Awarded to Sebastian Chaumontet for the Open Glider Network (OGN). OGN provides a unified tracking platform for gliders, GA aircraft, paragliders, drones and other small airborne objects. The OGN platform helps to reduce mid-air collision risks by connecting information from a range of iconspicuity devices. It also enables easier provision of weather information directly into the cockpit to help pilots to cope with changing conditions.
2nd Prize - 5,000 €
Awarded to the PocketFMS Foundation for EasyVFR 4 which provides a complete solution for flight preparation, route planning, and flight navigation. EasyVFR 4 helps pilots to manage the flight and reduce the risk of mid-air collisions through the provision of planning tools that also enable the identification of different types of airspace and links to relevant NOTAMs. It also helps pilots to cope with weather by providing weather graphics on the display in the cockpit.
3rd Prize - 2,000 €
Awarded to Flytool and their solution that provides both flight management and safety reporting. Flytool offers a Safety Management solution for the GA Community that supports the management of the flight and also helps to reduce general risks across all accident categories. It does this by providing a simple and easy occurrence reporting function that allows club managers to review occurrences and share lessons learned with the pilot community. It also provides other functions such as an electronic logbook and licensing reminders.
In addition to the prize winners, EASA also awarded special recognition to Oscar Yankee APS for their Wings Toolbox. This App was developed in a short period of time and already shows considerable promise to support improvements in aviation safety. It provides features such as standby instruments in the event of a major technical failure, airfield and location information to help with situational awareness and helps pilots cope with weather by providing a “Personal Barometer” function. It also provides all Sunny Swift stories to the user.