Jim Burnett

Chairman

During three presidentially appointed terms spanning nearly a decade of service as the Chairman of the NTSB, Jim supervised the investigation of several thousand aviation accidents; participated in the adoption of over 100 major aviation accident reports and 1300 formal aviation safety recommendations; and led the on-site investigations and chaired investigatory hearings of numerous aviation disasters. He has also chaired 18 public hearings, testified more than 70 times before committees of the US Congress, and 20 times before committees of state legislatures on numerous transportation safety issues.  Jim is a participating member of the International Aircraft Cabin Safety Symposium Executive Committee, the International Society of Air Safety Investigators, the Flight Safety Foundation and the Northwest Aviation Council.  He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Arkansas Bar Association, and the National Association of Railroad Safety Consultants and Investigators.  Recently, Jim was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame in ceremonies held in Little Rock, Arkansas.  

Barbara Dunn

Member

Barbara Dunn’s contributions to aviation safety have focused on her area of expertise - the aircraft cabin.  In 1974 she was appointed National Health and Safety Chairperson for the Canadian Airlines Flight Attendants Association, a position she held for 15 years.  She is also distinguished as being the first cabin attendant ever to receive the prestigious Transport Canada Aviation Safety Award.  Currently, Dunn serves as the President of the Canadian Society of Air Safety Investigators and is a founder and Executive Committee member of the International Aircraft Cabin Safety Symposium.    She has taught both initial and recurrent training classes for In-Flight Services at Air Canada as well as classes on other safety related topics.  Recently retired from Air Canada,  she now runs her own business consulting on aviation accident preparedness.

Olof Fritsch 

Member

In his 44-year career in aviation safety, Olof Fritsch has incalculably advanced the safety of air travel.  He conceptualized and created the ICAO Accident Prevention Manual, set up ADREP - the first world-wide accident reporting system, served as President, Executive Advisor and International Counselor for ISASI, was the Chief of the Accident Investigation and Prevention Section of ICAO.  His military background includes serving as Chief of the Jet Aircraft Accident Investigation section of the Directorate of Flight Safety in the National Defense Headquarters in Canada.  Before immigrating to Canada, Fritsch was an accident investigator and pilot with the Swedish Air Force.

Caj Frostell

Member

Caj Erik Frostell, one of the world’s foremost experts in accident investigation, is the immediate past Chief of the Accident Investigation and Prevention Section of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal. His promotion to chief of the section in 1996 followed his over 16 years of service as a section team member. Throughout his continuing career with ICAO, Mr. Frostell has served on many special assignments.  In 1997, he served as accident investigator on a technical cooperation assignment with the Republic of Korea for the investigation of the accident to the Korean Air Boeing 747 in Guam on 6 August 1997.  Mr. Frostell recently retired from his position at ICAO and is a highly sought after consultant and instructor in accident prevention and investigation.

Prior to his ICAO assignment, he served as accident investigator assigned to Saudi Arabia for the investigation of the mid-air collision between Saudi Arabian Airlines, Boeing 747, and the Kazakhstan Airlines, IL-76, near New Delhi, India, on 12 November 1996.  Also in 1996, he was the team leader for the ICAO team investigating and reporting on the shooting down of two civil aircraft by Cuban military aircraft on 24 February 1996.  He also served as team leader for the ICAO team completing the investigation (December 1992 – June 1993) on the destruction of Korean Air Lines flight 007, Boeing 747 on August 31, 1983.

Before joining ICAO, Mr. Frostell was Chief of Accident Investigation with the Board of Aviation in Finland. He served in that capacity for 13 years and investigated over 300 accidents.  Mr. Frostell holds a Master of Applied Science degree from the Institute of Aerospace Studies, University of Toronto, Canada; a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Technical University in Helsinki, Finland and received basic flight training in the Air Force in Finland.

Ken Johnson

Member

Ken was born in Bralorne British Columbia and has Canadian and British citizenship.  After serving  in the Royal Canadian Air Force,  Ken joined the Department of Transport in 1967 as a civil aviation inspector and was involved in the flight calibration of navigational aids, together with the development and licensing of airports.  In 1972 he became the planning manager for the Department’s Central Region in Winnipeg. Following an assignment as a policy advisor with the Arctic Transportation Agency, he began a series of progressively senior management appointments.  In 1975 he became Regional Manager, Airports, Pacific Region, responsible for the operation and development of twenty-five airports, including Vancouver International.  He next acted as Pacific Regional Administrator responsible for all aspects of civil aviation in the region with a staff of two thousand.  In 1978 he became Director of Airport Policy, Planning/Programming at headquarters in Ottawa.  In 1982 he became the Director of the Department’s Aviation Safety Bureau.  He was prominent in the planning and development of an independent aviation safety board. 

 

In 1984 Ken was appointed Executive Director of the new, independent Canadian Aviation Safety Board.  He led that organization as its senior public servant and contributed to the conceptual planning for a multi-modal safety board to encompass the air, marine, rail and pipeline modes of transport.  In 1990 he was appointed Executive Director of the newly established Transportation Safety Board of Canada.  He was the chief operating officer in that organization as it developed its national and international capabilities in safety investigation until his retirement from the public service in 2001

Art has 35 years of experience in aviation as a military and civil pilot, accident investigator, manager and executive.  He graduated cum laude from the University of Ottawa in 1970 with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Computer Science

Art was the Director General of Civil Aviation for Canada from 1997 to the end of 2001.  He was responsible for regulating the safety of civil aviation in Canada, including certification, licensing, inspection, audit and enforcement of individuals and aviation companies.  Art managed the largest and most complex program in Transport Canada and led the development of Canada’s civil aviation safety framework, Flight 2005, and the implementation of safety management systems within aviation companies.

Before joining Transport Canada, Art was the Chief, Investigation Operations, Canadian Aviation Safety Board where he was responsible for the development of accident and incident investigation standards and for the team of investigators assigned to major investigations.  Art also was Investigator-in-charge of several high profile investigations.

Prior to retiring from the Public Service of Canada, Art received an award from the Government of Canada recognizing his efforts in responding to the events surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and, in particular, the safe recovery of over 250 aircraft and 30,000 passengers diverted to Canada.

Art is currently with the Air Line Pilots Association, International and is their senior representative in Canada.

 

Tommy McFall  

Member

The SCSI faculty, staff, and members of the Board of Advisors extend a warm welcome to Mr. Tommy McFall who has joined the SCSI team of aviation safety professionals.  We are particularly pleased to welcome Tommy who brings an important variety of new perspectives to SCSI.  Tommy McFall is well and widely known in the field of aviation safety.  Most recently he served as American Airlines Director of Accident Investigation and Safety Reviews during the period 1995-2003.  He was responsible for major aircraft accident investigations and relations with the National Transportation Safety Board, or appropriate international civil aviation authorities, for emergency response, accident investigation, and family assistance (CARE).  He was the go-team leader and American’s senior on-site representative managing investigation (including two public hearings) and family assistance for accidents in Hartford, Connecticut (November-95), Buga, Colombia (December-95), Little Rock, Arkansas (June-99), and New York City, New York (November-01). He also represented American Airlines at the Pentagon following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. 

Tommy brings an important background in airline auditing to SCSI. He has served as the Chairman, Air Transport Association (ATA) Safety Council, 1997/98, had a lead role in ATA development of international airline audit standards in cooperation with DOD, DOT, and FAA, 1998/9, and served as a member of International Air Transportation Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Steering Committee and Advisory Group, 2001/02/03.  Tommy has been the lead auditor on more than 30 international and domestic airline safety audits to FAA/DOT/DOD standards and served as  the Chairman, of the oneworld Safety Management Group, 2000/02 (Aerlingus, American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Lan Chile, and Qantas).   He served as the Co-Chairman, Air Transport Association’s 1999 Operations and Safety Forum as well. 

Prior to joining American Airlines Tommy worked for the NTSB from 1983 to 1995.  While there he was an aircraft accident investigator, a Regional Director/investigator, South Central Regional Office, 8 years, and an investigator and supervisor of investigators in aviation accidents including fixed and rotary wing general aviation, corporate jet/turboprop, and regional/major air carriers.  Tommy also had oversight over highway and railroad accident investigations and instructed in various NTSB and FAA aviation accident investigation courses.  Prior to joining the NTSB Tommy was a Pilot, flight engineer and FAA designated check engineer for Braniff Airways.  Before that Tommy served in the U.S. Navy as a aircraft carrier jet attack pilot.  He is an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) with commercial instrument/multi-engine land ratings, a Flight Engineer Turbojet, and has been a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI), instrument and multi-engine airplane.

The SCSI faculty, staff, and members of the Board of Advisors extend a warm welcome to Barry Sweedler who has joined the SCSI team of aviation safety professionals.  Barry recently retired as the Director of the Office of Safety Recommendations and Accomplishments of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).  In his 31 year career with the NTSB, he was involved in safety in all modes of transportation, including hazardous materials.  He was responsible for achieving the highest rate of acceptance possible for the recommendations made by the Safety Board to improve safety.  This included managing the Safety Board’s “Most Wanted” safety recommendations program.  He participated in accident investigations and conducted studies on many of the nation’s major transportation safety issues.  He served on the Board of Inquiry on many high profile accidents, including the ValuJet crash in the Everglades in Florida; the TWA 800 in-flight explosion of a B-747 off the coast of Long Island, New York and the fire aboard the cruise ship Ecstasy in Miami, Florida.  

Barry holds both a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Business Administration and is a licensed professional engineer.  He currently chairs a section of the United States Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board that covers safety in all modes of transportation.  He was the Founding Editor of the ITSA Report, the newsletter of the International Transportation Safety Association.  While with the NTSB Barry was awarded both the Presidential Rank Awards of Meritorious Senior Executive and Distinguished Senior Executive for his leadership role in the NTSB’s efforts to help improve safety in all the modes of transportation.   In May 2000, he began a three-year term as President of the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. Barry is a founding partner in the consulting firm, Safety and Policy Analysis International (www.safetyandpolicy.com).

 

Richard H. Wood

Member

Dick Wood is a pilot, a certified safety professional (CSP), an author, and a professional safety engineer registered in California.   He received his bachelor's degree in General Engineering from the University of Nebraska and an MS in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.  He was a Professor of Safety Science at the University of Southern California for 13 years and a pilot in the United States Air Force for 26 years.  At the time of his retirement, he had accumulated over 6,000 hours of flying experience and was USAF Director of Safety Policy and Programs.  

 

Mr. Wood is an active member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators, American Society of Safety Engineers,  System Safety Society, and past President and Managing Director of The Southern California Safety Institute.  He has published numerous papers and articles on aviation safety subjects and is the author of Aviation Safety Programs: -- a Management Handbook, and co-author of Aircraft Accident Investigation.

 

 

 

Dr. Kay Yong

Member

 

Dr. Kay Yong served as the founding Managing Director of the Aviation Safety Council in Taiwan, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics,  National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan, ROC.  He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.  He has served in various positions including Director, Aerospace Science and Technology Research Center, NCKU; Vice-President, Microelectronic Technology, Inc.; and Deputy Director of the National Space Program Office, ROC.