Page 9 - March2020

Colourful kids’ camp program Staff from all three organizations worked together
showcases aviation careers to bring this scenario to life. The children were
By: Major Claire Maxwell voluntarily divided into two teams: the Human
Factors specialists whose role was to interview the
pilot, and the Technical team whose role was to
inspect the wreckage.

PHOTO CREDIT Col. John Alexander
A creative summer camp program may have nudged
young participants into considering a future career as an
aircraft accident investigator.
PHOTO CREDIT Col. John Alexander
It all began when Jared Smith, a programming assistant
A group of children inspect and measure the tail
with the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum,
of the plane.
contacted Beverley Harvey from the Transportation
Safety Board (TSB) and asked her for some advice on how The children had to discover the cause of the
to set up an aircraft accident scenario. The aim behind accident through observation and by asking
this scenario was to expose children, who were going to questions. The sudden arrival of a “drone
be attending the SONART summer camp at the museum, operator” who was searching for their missing
to various sorts of careers in aviation. Jared wanted them drone was often played by a very enthusiastic
to learn by doing, instead of by being lectured to. child from the camp. If Hollywood is needing
someone to audition, we know a few potential
The role of aircraft accident investigator was one career
candidates!
being showcased at the camp. Jared needed a realistic
scenario that was interesting, not too frightening, easy to Speaking of candidates…we now know where our
set up and dismantle, located outdoors (but transferable future accident investigators are going to come
to the indoors if weather was poor), and doable within an from! The children were fantastic. They were
hour. Bev Harvey recommended the Canadian Armed curious, enthusiastic and engaged. They
Forces Directorate of Flight Safety (DFS) as a flight safety thoroughly used the Crash Scene Hazard
resource, having spent some time with DFS during an Management matrix to determine the potential
annual investigator training exercise. As a result, DFS had hazards at the crash site. They cordoned off the
the opportunity to promote flight safety in a rather novel site, to ensure bystanders were kept safely
way. outside the perimeter and to preserve the
evidence within. They informed the pilot that they
The collaboration between the museum, TSB, and DFS led
were there to figure out the cause of the accident
to the development of an exercise involving a rusty,
not because they wanted to assign blame, but
distracted, pilot having to take drastic measures with
their Volksplane to avoid a drone while landing at the because they wanted to prevent future accidents.