Adrian is Auckland bureau chief for Aviation Week, based in New Zealand. He covers commercial aviation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Adrian was previously based in Aviation Week’s Washington office for nine years, writing for a range of the group’s publications and covering many aspects of the commercial aviation industry. He has won Australasian and international awards for his aviation writing.
Prior to joining Aviation Week in 2002, Adrian covered aviation industry and policy issues for two other publishing companies in Washington. He has also worked for newspapers in Texas and New Zealand, covering a wide range of topics. Adrian graduated from Auckland University with a degree in history and English in 1992.
It’s a myth that airline accident rates are now so low that “we should no longer expect sudden and sustained breakthroughs in the future rates,” believes FAA safety chief Nicholas Sabatini. The aviation community “is on the threshold of reaching the next level in aviation safety,” Sabatini says, and programs that mine safety data for remaining or undiscovered risks are the key to future breakthroughs.
American and its pilots union are scheduled to continue their mediated contract talks this week, with the airline reviewing the latest union proposals. The two parties will meet May 13-14 under the oversight of the National Mediation Board, and again on May 27-29. The first round of NMB-controlled talks were held last week. The Allied Pilots Association believes two weeks worth of negotiations will be held in June. The union wants the airline to keep negotiating when the NMB mediators are not available.
It appears that FAA is bringing the independent office created to oversee ATC modernization back into the agency fold. According to an agency Web site, FAA has established a new position that will be responsible for modernization planning — including the efforts of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). Vicki Cox will take on the new role of FAA’s senior VP for NextGen and operations planning.
