In March 1999, the International Aviation Safety Association (IASA) was founded in the U.S. state of Delaware by Mrs. Lyn S. Romano. Her husband Ray was one of the 229 victims of Swissair Flight 111, which crashed on September 2, 1998, near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.
IASA has a global mission to enhance the safety of flight and cabin crews, and passengers, and is aiming for worldwide coverage. Shortly, IASA Europe will be founded, and representatives will be appointed in Canada, the Middle East, the Far East, and Australia. Further regions to be incorporated in 1999 are South America and South Africa.

According to Mrs. Romano, safety is a state-of-mind or "mindset" that must be ingrained into all those responsible for safety in the air. It must be involved in the design, manufacturing, inspection, repair, and reporting, as well as in the corporate office's overall responsibility for every facet of that goal. It reaches from air traffic control to emergency response capability at airports, and from cockpit/crew resource management to independent post-crash investigations and human remains identification procedures. IASA is dedicated to prevent as much as possible the trauma of people joining the exclusive club of family survivors
in the future.

IASA is a non-profit, non-political, independent organization dedicated to those who fly and is supported by a wide variety of people who have an interest in aviation safety. Education will be provided for by means of a Web site containing a technical library, aviation links, clearinghouse for safety-related wrongdoings (via a 1-800 anonymous reporting line), statistics, qualitative analysis of safety concerns by aircraft type, and other specialty links.

IASA will monitor responses to recommendations made by the NTSB in relation to their effect on desired results (e.g., smoke evacuation, independently powered PA systems; flammability of cabin interior materials; and performance and specifications of in-flight recorders). IASA also plans to review statistics via incident/accident reports, and also establish service life projections for aircraft and their parts. It is to ultimately result in fewer instances where information could have made the difference.

Paul Marquis (in the "Transport Canada Safety Letter")
http://www.tc.gc.ca 

For detailed information on IASA, visit their Web site at http://www.iasa.com.au

and Transport 2000 Canada (not associated with Dept of Transport Canada) at:

http://www.transport2000.ca/index.html 

http://www.transport2000.ca/APSG  (Air Passenger Safety Group)