In the opening session of NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference in New Orleans this morning, Ed Bolen, the association’s president and CEO, addressed the recent spate of high-profile aviation accidents and their effects on the industry.

“We know that business aviation—all of aviation—is under a microscope right now,” he said, noting the fatal midair collision in Washington, D.C., involving an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a regional jet. That accident was followed by others involving business aviation aircraft, including fatal accidents involving a medevac Learjet in Philadelphia and a runway departure in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“All of this has brought an intense focus on aviation, with an important question being asked about our industry: Is it safe?” said Bolen. In response, he pointed to aviation’s enviable safety record. “Imagine that, [of] all the modes of transportation, the one that goes up in the air and comes back down is the safest way to go.”

Yet, he added, “it is not enough to be safe; we’ve got to be perceived as being safe,” and for him, being safe is not a destination in itself, but a path towards perfection. While acknowledging that it is an unachievable goal, Bolen said it is one the industry must strive for “every day, in every way.”

To improve safety, he pointed to two crucial factors, the first being elimination of complacency. “It’s easy sometimes to just do what you are doing,” he told the audience. “We’ve got to always focus on doing what we’re doing with excellence.”

The second is the adoption of a just culture. “For decades now, we have been promoting a voluntary reporting system where people can come forward to their company, to our industry, to the FAA and share what their experiences have been,” and knowing that wouldn’t necessarily come with punishment. “We’re about working together and understanding how good people trying to be safe are making mistakes.”

Toward that end, Bolen said he was encouraged by the NTSB’s resisting pressure to place immediate blame in the Washington midair collision and its insistence on conducting a full and thorough investigation before determining the cause of the accident.