MONTERREY, N.L. – Mexico has demonstrated “time and time again” its ability to implement and maintain world-class safety standards, making it one of the global leaders in aviation safety, stated Miguel Enrique Vallín Osuna, Director General of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).

These remarks come after the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recently published a “Significant Safety Concern” (SSC) on its website, still unresolved, which was identified in the audit conducted in February and March, regarding the verification of radio aids for air navigation, which should be carried out by AFAC, as the Mexican aviation authority, using its verification aircraft.

In response, this organization and the Air Navigation Services in Mexican Airspace (Seneam) stated that national aviation safety complies with international requirements.

“In Mexico, we are committed to being leaders in safety through coordinated work of all aviation sector stakeholders,” added the director during his opening speech at the 37th Congress: “Friends of Aviation.”

According to Vallín, aviation safety is “a shared responsibility” that requires collaboration between the aviation industry and government authorities. Therefore, he pointed out that their common commitment is and will be to ensure that all aviation activities are carried out safely, reliably, and efficiently.

“We must ensure collaboration among the various stakeholders, and we consider it essential since we all have an essential role in this joint effort. Safety is not an individual effort but the result of coordinated and collaborative work,” he assured.

The Director-General of AFAC also commented that they must continue to “innovate and adapt” to the new changes and challenges facing aviation, especially in the face of technological advancement, as it develops “rapidly,” giving rise to new areas of opportunity.

“It is crucial that we stay at the forefront of these developments by adopting the best practices and technologies available to ensure that our aviation is one of the safest in the world. Our leadership in safety goes hand in hand with the capability and professionalization of our human talent, so we must continue to strengthen it continuously and ensure that we are prepared,” he mentioned.

However, he added that safety is “not only a matter of regulations and technology” but also of organizational culture. In this regard, he explained that every member of the national aviation community “must understand” the importance of their role and act with greater responsibility and commitment.

“The organization of events like this is noteworthy as they are an invaluable opportunity to share knowledge, experiences, and best practices, which allow us to learn from each other and strengthen our collaboration networks. For the reasons mentioned above, this civil aviation authority reiterates to all of you its commitment to work closely together to continue applying the highest safety standards,” he pointed out.

The Director-General of AFAC concluded that “Mexico is a great nation and deserves a great aviation industry.”

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The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) published on its website a “Significant Safety Concern” (SSC), still unresolved, detected in the audit conducted in February and March, regarding the verification of radio aids for air navigation, which should be carried out by the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).

This concern is one of the 11 that ICAO has identified since the creation of this alert figure, and it is made public through its website. In this case, it involves AFAC as the responsible authority.

“ICAO has identified an SSC that remains unresolved by Mexico. The SSC issue belongs to the area of air navigation services (ANS) regarding the expiration of the periodicity of flight inspection of radio aids for navigation. This does not necessarily indicate a particular operational safety deficiency but rather indicates that the State is not providing sufficient operational safety oversight to ensure the effective implementation of all applicable ICAO standards,” it added.

Contrary to what ICAO has stated, the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) stated that it has conducted significant oversight. It emphasized that AFAC, together with Navigation Services in Mexican Airspace (Seneam), has carried out these aerial verifications during the last two months, which, it pointed out, “maintained the proper functioning of the air navigation equipment.”

It stated that two months ago, they enabled a verification program that includes the review and calibration of radio aids nationwide.

“To date, 95% of existing radio aids nationwide have been verified, resulting in a high level of compliance with international operational margins. It should be noted that the verification tasks carried out over the last two months represent unprecedented work due to the high number of reviews and calibrations performed in such a short time,” the statement emphasized.

It indicated that aviation safety was prioritized at all times, and Seneam engineers kept navigation systems within operational standards, the evidence of which was presented to ICAO.

“For this, they anticipated international demands in terms of aerial verification, with cutting-edge technology to keep navigation systems permanently calibrated and comply with international regulations,” it emphasized.

According to the international organization that belongs to the United Nations, during an audit, ICAO can detect insufficient capacity in the audited State to adequately supervise its service providers, whether airlines, airports; air navigation services, as is the case and/or service provider, within the area under its jurisdiction.

ICAO does not directly audit the aviation industry or sector service providers, but focuses on the “surveillance capacity” of operational safety by the governmental authority designated as responsible for civil aviation.

“(It is carried out) to obtain more specific information about the safety of the various components of the aviation system (i.e., airlines, airports, aircraft, or air navigation service providers)” through supervisory actions by authorities based on the guidelines of the annexes of the Chicago Convention, the origin of this international organization.

It added that the full technical details of the conclusions are made available to the Civil Aviation Authority of the State, in the case of Mexico corresponding to AFAC, to guide rectification, as well as to facilitate any action they deem necessary to ensure safety.

Furthermore, “The audited State also commits to periodically inform ICAO of progress in correcting the safety issue,” it noted.

The audit of the Mexican aviation authority by ICAO began on February 14 and concluded on March 14, the investigation was divided into two phases.

According to the minutes – derived from the first phase of the audit – in possession of A21, the global authority found 142 observations regarding operational safety surveillance in Mexico.

According to the official documents of the audit, there are 94 responses to questions classified as “unsatisfactory”, 32 “satisfactory” and 16 “pending”. The documents indicate that 69 of the 142 observations are related to air navigation.

On the other hand, ICAO pointed out that, in addition to Mexico, the ICAO member States with unresolved SSCs that remain published on the secure website are as follows: Armenia, Bhutan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Russian Federation, Liberia, Zimbabwe.

With information from A21

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