Airlineratings.com editors win major awards

Airlineratings.com editors have won major awards at the Aerospace Media Awards Asia at the start of the Singapore Air Show. Editor Steve Creedy and Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas won Best Safety, Training & Simulation Submission sponsored by CAE for their feature "Pilot training, skills levels and automation come under intense scrutiny" which was published on March 18, 2019. The article explores the pilot automation interface and how pilots interact with that interface under intense pressure and the emerging problem of “automation paralysis”. The article found that some pilots under intense pressure are not following either basic airmanship fundamentals, core basic training or straightforward instructions from their fellow pilots.

Since the article was published it has emerged that one of the pilots flying the Lion 737 MAX had serious training problems. One of the most respected crash experts NTSB crash investigator Greg Feith called into question the Indonesia crash report in November. Read Greg's analysis here. The judges said of Thomas and Creedy's feature: "The article was ambitious in scope, strong in detail, fearless in execution." Geoffrey Thomas also won the Lockheed Martin Outstanding Achievement award for his work over the past five years on the tragic loss of MH370.

The judge's comments were: Rational, responsible aviation journalism that eschews sensationalism without sacrificing passion. Mr Thomas, founder of AirlineRatings.com is one of the world's most awarded aviation journalists with 45 awards.