EASA announces winners of first GA Safety Award

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has announced the winners of its first General Aviation (GA) Safety Award. 

The award was launched in April last year at AERO 2019 as part of the Agency’s ongoing commitment to GA.

The GA Safety Award recognises the most safety-beneficial smartphone/tablet app for use by GA pilots. The apps were assessed on their ability to address one or more of the four major safety concerns identified in the European Plan for Aviation Safety:

• Staying in control
• Managing the flight
• Preventing mid-air collisions
• Coping with weather.

The prize winners are:

1st (€8,000 prize) Sebastian Chaumontet for the Open Glider Network (OGN). OGN provides a unified tracking platform for gliders, GA aircraft, paragliders, drones and other small airborne objects.

The OGN platform helps to reduce mid-air collision risks by connecting information from a range of conspicuity devices. It also enables easier provision of weather information directly into the cockpit to help pilots to cope with changing conditions.

2nd (€5,000) PocketFMS Foundation for EasyVFR 4 which provides a complete solution for flight preparation, route planning, and flight navigation.

EasyVFR 4 helps pilots to manage the flight and reduce the risk of mid-air collisions through the provision of planning tools that also enable the identification of different types of airspace and links to relevant NOTAMs.  It also helps pilots to cope with weather by providing weather graphics on the display in the cockpit.

3rd (€2,000) Flytool and their solution that provides both flight management and safety reporting.

Flytool offers a Safety Management solution for the GA Community that supports the management of the flight and also helps to reduce general risks across all accident categories.

It does this by providing a simple and easy occurrence reporting function that allows club managers to review occurrences and share lessons learned with the pilot community.  It also provides other functions such as an electronic logbook and licensing reminders.

EASA also awarded special recognition to Oscar Yankee APS for its Wings Toolbox.

This App provides features such as standby instruments in the event of a major technical failure, airfield and location information to help with situational awareness and helps pilots cope with weather by providing a ‘Personal Barometer’ function.

European Plan for Aviation Safety