Bombardier sets annual Wichita safety event for October

Bombardier Business Aircraft said it will hold its 19th annual Wichita safety event this fall.

The Canadian parent of Learjet in Wichita said its Safety Standdown will be held Oct. 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency Wichita.

This year’s event will focus on attention control techniques, Bombardier said in a news release.

“Distraction is considered to be one of the most serious threats to aviation safety by the National Transportation Safety Board,” Al Gorthy, a Safety Standdown expert, said in the release. “This year, Safety Standdown will show aviation professionals how to recognize sources of distraction and ways of disconnecting from them to avoid negative impacts on safe operations.”

The Safety Standdown was originally developed as a safety training event for the Learjet demonstration team in 1996. In 1999, the company opened it up to all pilots.

Bombardier officials also said in the release that this year’s event will be the last one for former astronaut and Navy pilot Eugene Cernan, who has served on the Safety Standdown advisory council for more than a decade and is the program’s ambassador.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Bombardier sets annual Wichita safety event for October."