Safety climate of ab-initio flying training organizations: the case of an Australian tertiary (collegiate) aviation program

A healthy safety culture is essential to the safe operation of any aviation organization, including flight schools. This study aimed to assess the safety climate of an Australian tertiary (collegiate) aviation program using a self-constructed instrument. Factor analysis of the instrument identified four safety themes, which are Safety Reporting Culture, Safety Reporting Procedure, Organizational Culture and Practice, and General Safety Knowledge. The responses of student pilots suggested that the overall safety climate of the subject flight training academy was healthy at the time of the survey. Further analyses found that perceptions of students of different year groups on Reporting Culture and Organizational Culture and Practices were significantly different from each other, with the first-year students responding more positively. Besides addressing the safety climate of the subject flight training academy, this study also provided a template and a benchmark for other tertiary (collegiate) aviation programs to assess their own safety climate.