Flying is the safest way to travel, but it wasn’t always. How the USC program helped that change – USC Viterbi

USC Safety and Security Program

1952 was the year the first class entered the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program.

There was a time when airline passengers were offered dinner, drinks and seats without cigarettes before they gave a hearty round of applause when they landed safely.

In the year Aviation security in 1952 looked completely different than it does today. At least six major plane crashes occurred in the United States that year alone, including the Moses Lake C-124 military plane crash in Washington that killed 87 people on board, becoming the world’s deadliest aviation disaster at the time.

“It’s the first program of its kind to exist and be created at a major research university in the world. We continue to maintain it as the gold standard of aviation education.” – Thomas Anthony, director of USC’s Aviation Safety and Security Program

In the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, A series of accidents in 1952 prompted officials to temporarily close Newark Airport for nine months when President Truman established an airport commission entitled “The Airport and Its Neighbors” to study the nation’s airport policy. Safety of nearby areas and communities.

In the years following World War II, the United States Air Force’s high losses of aircraft and personnel prompted military officials to take action. Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino urged Air Force commanders to establish a crash prevention training center and teach officers how to investigate accidents scientifically. Because the University of Southern California had previously conducted aeronautical research with the military, was equipped with state-of-the-art aviation technology at the time, and was located at the heart of the aircraft industry, USC was chosen for this task.

Thus, on September 1, 1952, the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program was born.

“It’s the first program of its kind ever created at a major research university in the world,” said Thomas Anthony, director of USC’s Aviation Safety and Security Program and a former Federal Aviation Administration investigator.

“We have assembled a multidisciplinary team of professors from engineering, psychology, management and communications to develop these educational courses into a comprehensive set of courses for (US) Air Force Airmen.”

Originally, the certificate program was only offered to train U.S. military personnel, but over the past 70 years, it has grown to educate more than 10,000 aviation professionals worldwide. A wide variety of aviation professionals certified through the program include foreign and domestic government officials, aircraft operators, manufacturers and accident investigators.

Today, according to Dutch aviation consultancy To70, commercial passenger planes see only one fatal accident for every 16 million flights. Taking this into account, 7.2 people die for every 1 billion car passengers. It is 0.07 people per plane.

In 1961, the United States Navy received USC’s Aviation Safety and Security Program certification

Notable alumni of the program include astronaut Jim Lovell, who commanded NASA’s Apollo 13 mission and was one of the first men to walk on the moon, and Charles Bolden, 12.^Th A NASA administrator who piloted both the space shuttle Columbia and the Discovery missions.

Recently, Nivedita Bhasin, another USC certificate recipient, was appointed as Air India’s Chief Flight Safety Officer, the first female pilot.

Air India Captain Nivedita Bhasin

“We have people from all over the world, from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia; We have people coming to learn to improve their job security,” Anthony said. Call Namibian crash investigators.

“They have attended our courses and asked for help in the pilot murder and suicide case. This not only benefits them, but benefits us as a program as we create a collaborative security culture that shares information and resources around the world. Those who obtain the certificate are known to be experts in aviation safety and security.

USC’s aviation safety and security certification is internationally recognized by the International Airline Pilots Association. While many other aviation safety programs have sprung up across the country, Anthony said, none offer the same breadth of courses and international connections as USC’s Aviation Safety and Security program.

“It’s a comprehensive program with over 60 instructors each with practical and professional experience,” says Anthony. “Our course offerings range from safety management and incident investigation to safety management for drone operators and automated data for system safety to engineering safety.”

Students who take the program’s aircraft accident investigation course get access to USC’s aircraft accident investigation laboratory in Alhambra and get more than classroom instruction.

As an aviation accident investigator, an important part of the job is learning how to properly analyze wreckage before drawing conclusions. The lab offers students hands-on learning opportunities and hands-on experience with at least 13 aircraft for close examination.

“The reality is that we’re helping prevent accidents like we have in our labs,” Anthony said. “One of the hardest things about plane crash investigation is learning the discipline of it. The discipline of tracking, documenting, and planning. Once you gather the evidence, it defies human nature to jump to conclusions. Let the evidence take your hand and lead you to the answer.”

As technological advances continue to drive the aviation industry forward, airline safety has improved significantly since 1952. According to the FAA, commercial aviation fatalities have decreased by 95 percent in the past 20 years alone. USC’s Aviation Safety and Security program contributes to those industry reforms by continually evolving how safety is handled with the goal of providing certificate recipients with the highest quality aviation education experience.

Whether it’s creating courses on drones and AI in aviation or working with the U.S. Space Force, the program is constantly looking to challenge aviation to be as impactful as it has been for the next 70 years, he said.

Click here for more information on how to participate in USC’s Aviation Safety and Security Program.

Published on August 18, 2022

Last updated on August 18, 2022.