TSB confident in Cdn safety

The chief aviation investigator for the federal transport watchdog is reassuring people boarding flights on major Canadian airlines not to worry about the psychological well-being of their pilots.

"I don't have any concerns, I'll fly on any airline in Canada," said Mark Clitsome, director of air investigations with the Transportation Safety Board, in the wake of the fatal Germanwings crash in France.

"But we have not had a major airline with this type of incident that I'm aware of, and I've been here 20 years."

Prosecutors in France concluded on Thursday the co-pilot of the commercial airliner deliberately rammed the jet packed with 150 people into the French Alps, killing everyone on board.

Clitsome said in an interview that people shouldn't have pilot-related safety concerns, because the circumstances of the European tragedy are "very, very, very highly rare."

He said he's "absolutely" confident in current protocols, noting Canada's safety record is excellent and the aviation accident rate is declining, especially in comparison to other accident rates around the world.

The federal government moved swiftly on Thursday to shore up airline policies, directing that all Canadian airliners carrying passengers must have two crew members in the cockpit at all times.

Clitsome noted there's always room for improvement, and said the board has formulated an ongoing watch-list, "but none of them touch on what happened in France." That indicates the psychological well-being of pilots has not been a realm of concern, he explained.

There have been occasional cases where a pilot who owns a private plane has taken to the sky and then taken their life, but never endangered anyone else, he said.

Commercial pilots in Canada undergo rigorous training before and after they're hired. Health and wellness testing varies and tends to occur as part of the employment process, Clitsome said. Either a government inspector or company conducts testing to ensure they're safe to fly.

Airlines must follow the Canadian Aviation Regulations and also take direction from International Civil Aviation Organization.

But there's no standardized psychological testing, said John McKenna, president of the Air Transport Association of Canada, which represents 80 regional and local airline carriers including Porter Airlines and Sunwing.

"That's a delicate issue. To go into someone's private life is not an easy thing as far as laws are concerned, as far as regulations are concerned," he said.

"And it's very delicate in terms of employee morale. So I don't know how they go around that."

He expressed faith that Canada's policies represent a safety culture unparalleled around the world.

"If you see something odd, be it technical or behavioural, you're asked to report it," he said, adding the government has in place a specific safety management systems.

"It's very thorough and if somebody is behaving oddly, it will be reported."

Bob Connors, general manager at the Waterloo Wellington Flight Centre, also said that while training centres watch people, there's no formal screening process from the start.

"So as people go through training, and we see things that we have concerns about, we'll address them," he said.

Air Canada, said in a statement that it conducts behavioural assessments when it first hires its pilots. They are examined medically every year, and twice annually after age 60.

Paul Howard, communications director for the Air Canada Pilots Association, said it's too early to draw conclusions about whether new health-related measures should be considered.

"If that crash had taken place in Canada, we would want to be part of that investigation," he said. "It doesn't do for anyone to be speculating on this stuff."