Online training service nets aviation safety scholarship win

23 February 2017

Online training service nets aviation safety scholarship win

A project to set up free online training materials and animations is the recipient of this year’s Jilly Murphy Memorial Scholarship for Aviation Safety.

Airways CEO Ed Sims, a member of the judging panel, says it was great to see the issue of airport runway safety being tackled in an imaginative and engaging way. “We loved the combination of passion and creativity that Dan brought to his application.”

Ford Robertson, Manager of Quality and Security at Christchurch Airport and member of the judging panel, says this year the panel saw a large number of scholarship applicants over a diverse range of aviation safety related activities.

“The candidates expressed a real passion for aviation, which was of course Jilly Murphy’s focus,” he says. “We can see real value in Dan Parsons developing his training programme, aimed at enhancing safety through human factors and desired behaviours as applied to driving activities within the nation’s airport environs.”

Dan Parsons, Manager of Airport Operations at Queenstown, has been sharing aviation safety information through websites, blogging and iBooks for some time, culminating in his current project to develop a free, online training package.

Mr Parsons says “I'm looking forward to using this scholarship to tease out New Zealand's collective knowledge of safe airside driving. The hazards are significant and there are some real pockets of wisdom through the industry. I'd like to bring it together, wrap it in a human factors approach and provide a free online training course open to everyone.”

The scholarship was established jointly by Christchurch Airport and Airways in 2013 to honour Christchurch Airport based Air Traffic Controller Jilly Murphy, who died in central Christchurch during the earthquake on February 22, 2011. Jilly worked for Airways for 20 years as a highly skilled controller, with a passion for aviation safety.

John Murphy, Jilly’s father and also on the judging panel, says he hopes the unsuccessful applicants will also continue their work and projects. “There were so many great ideas, which I know Jilly would have encouraged, so I hope the applicants progress their work. We might even see them again next year.”

The $5,000 annual scholarship is open to anyone who can demonstrate a tangible contribution to improving aviation safety in New Zealand.

END

© Scoop Media