Free Flight Crew Safety Training Available for Newark

The National Air Transportation Association's (NATA) Safety 1st program, together with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has launched the Newark Airport Flight Crew Briefing. The briefing for Newark Liberty International Airport is a customized online training tool that provides pilots and other flight crew members flying into and out of the airport free access to critical safety information about the airport, including its location, layout, operations, regulations and safety and security procedures.

With incredible clarity and effectiveness due to its extensive use of interactive graphics, NATA's Safety 1st flight crew briefing presents pilots with views of runway incursion hot spots, scenarios representing common pilot errors, security procedures, and other information that is critical to safe aircraft operations.

This Safety 1st flight crew briefing is especially timely given Newark's current traffic statistics. Although domestic travel on U.S. air carriers is down slightly, travel on international air carriers is increasing, as is freight traffic. This could mean an increase in the number of pilots arriving to Newark who are unfamiliar with the airport. This flight crew briefing is a simple, twenty-minute training module to help ensure familiarity with the airport prior to arrival.

The Newark Liberty International Airport training tool is available to any interested person at no charge by visiting: www.airportflightcrewbriefing.com/newark.

The NATA's Safety 1st program launched the Teterboro Airport Flight Crew Briefing in June 2008. Since that training tool's inception, more than 300,000 hits have been recorded.

"We are thrilled with the industry's acceptance, use and promotion of this effective educational and safety tool," said NATA President James K. Coyne. "The Newark Liberty International Airport module is a critical addition to this aviation safety initiative because the airport sees such varied types of aircraft traffic. We are also confident the Newark Airport Flight Crew Briefing will make great strides to prove the airport's commitment to safety to flight crews and members of the surrounding community as the Teterboro module has done."

Several aircraft operators are requiring their flight crewmembers to complete the Teterboro Airport course as part of their pilot training, and NATA hopes the same will be true for the Newark Liberty International Airport module.

"We have noticed a widespread interest in NATA's Safety 1st flight crew briefings as word of their importance has traveled to industry conferences and events," Coyne said. "Crewmembers and pilots of all experience are discovering that they have much to gain through the Teterboro and Newark briefings, and they've asked when more will be offered."

Airports or aircraft operators interested in developing a similar module should contact NATA Vice President of Government and Industry Affairs Eric R. Byer at ebyer@nata.aero.