The key topic of aviation safety, which preceded LABACE 2013 with the Bombardier Safety Standdown, will follow it on August 17, as Brazil’s CENIPA has organized a full-day National Symposium on the Prevention of Aeronautic Accidents, for 600 participants from all facets of the aviation community. The event will include simultaneous translation and will take place at the Transamêrica Hotel.

Federal judge Marcelo Honorato, who as an Air Force officer was a general aviation accident investigator, will speak on “Legal Aspects & Prevention: Criminal responsibility in aviation accidents.” Judge Honorato spoke memorably on the topic from his unique dual perspective in Brasília last November, as AIN reported in its January 2013 issue.

Embraer’s flight safety manager, engineer Umbeto Irgang, will talk on “The aircraft manufacturer’s focus on increased safety”; Oscar Quesada of the ICAO regional office in Lima, Peru, will speak on “The Benefits of Annex 19 for Aviation”; and Marcelo Guaranys, president of Brazil’s national civil aviation agency, ANAC, will consider his agency’s role in the safety of Brazilian aviation. “Human Factors: The future is so bright it is blinding us” is the topic of Professor Katherine Andrea Lemos of ITA (Air Force Technological Institute in São José dos Campos) and professor Guido César Carim Júnior of PUC-RS (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul), home of Brazil's first aviation sciences course, will talk on “The safety culture and aviators: Where are we going?”

“It will be an intense day, a day full of important topics,” the head of CENIPA, Air Brigadier Luís Roberto do Carmo Lourenço, promised in a pre-conference video. He will speak on “Aviation’s worst villains and how to fight them.”

CENIPA, the “central organ” of the aviation safety system in Brazil, is part of the Brazilian Air Force. Commercial aviation accidents are always investigated by CENIPA, while general and business aviation accidents usually fall to the regional SERIPAs.

Fully subscribed a week after it was announced, the symposium will be broadcast via the web (http://www.simposiocenipa.com.br/Transmissao). The event is being produced by the Brazilian Air Force and CENIPA, with sponsorship from Petrobras and Embraer, and additional support from ANAC, the IV Regional Air Command, the Air Force Press Office, the IV Regional SERIPA, and Grupo LATAM Airlines. More information can be found at the symposium site at http://www.simposiocenipa.com.br