At the outset, I must make it quite clear that any views or opinions expressed are my own and are not necessarily those of either British European Airways or the Flight Safety Committee.

In this paper, I have attempted to discuss some of the problems which face those whose task is to obtain and to disseminate safety information. At the end, I have posed a number of questions which I believe are relevant and should be posed, and which Harold Caplan will take up in his subsequent discussion of the legal problems.

Air Safety is essentially the prevention of accidents by minimising the risk of encountering foreseeable hazards and the consequences of unforeseen situations. Thus the dissemination of air safety information is simply the spreading of accident prevention material. It is undoubtedly best achieved by a sharing among all concerned of the lessons learned from their incident and accident experience. This activity is one that has to be shared by operators, flight and ground crew, air traffic control, the designers and makers of aircraft, engines and equipment, and regulatory authorities.