I am so excited to announce I am now a junior honorary member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators, better known as ISASI. I’m the first junior member and I was also given my very own ISASI ID card.
Left to right
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, Eve Cogan, ISASI President Frank Del Gandio
I immediately recognised Angus Houston as he had become the face of MH370. He provided daily updates on the search. Here he is with our Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Why did they give a little 12 year old like me such a great honour?
Late last year I was invited to attend the annual ISASI (International Society of Air Safety Investigators) conference. Adelaide in South Australia had the honour of hosting it. The next conference is in Germany.
This conference was started 50 years ago in 1964 and initially only had five accident investigators from what is now known as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The conference unites air safety investigators so they can help improve air safety by sharing their professional knowledge with each other.
The conference was so exciting and I eagerly listened to three days of amazing presentations. My favourite topics were an investigation on the glide slope and of course the ongoing investigations into MH370 and MH17. I can thank many people for inviting me to the conference. The main person would be the aviation journalist, Christine Negroni who you might remember a few years ago helped me on my mission to have an airport in Australia named after the inventor of the black box (or FDR flight data recorder), David Warren.
I started a petition that ended with almost 4000 votes! So far I have had a building renamed – the head quarters of the DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation) of Australia. This building is next to the Canberra airport and is now named in David Warren’s honour. BTW my petition is still running and still needs your vote. Thank you very much.
Once I received my invitation to the ISASI conference, I first needed permission from my school to miss three days so I could attend. I was very excited even though I had no idea what to expect! Dad booked my ticket and I was off on a plane ride to Adelaide…
The flight there was held up due to this monster storm.
Day 1: The first day was a whirlwind of technical detail which I found fascinating even if at times it was hard to understand. I really liked the speech about the Glide Slope. It was called “Safety Management: Reversing
the False Glide Slope Myth” and it was presented by Dutch investigators Kas Beumkes and Michiel Schuurman. It would have been so cool to get to do that investigation! Between the talks I was whisked away to meet many other aviation aficionados, many of whom made it possible for me to attend.
800 delegates attended the conference. Everyone had a different accent.
Just outside the conference venue after Day 1.
Day 2: The second day was really exciting with speeches addressing the missing MH370. It was fascinating learning all the facts that the investigators were working with, rather than just the media’s interpretation which often just turned out to be speculators jumping at shadows. The other talks were very interesting and a little lighter than the day before.
A image explaining the mountainous tertian at the bottom of the ocean where they are looking for MH370
To understand the scale of the search I have zoomed in …
Each dot on the white line is the same size that a large Boeing 777 would be. Truly a needle in a haystack!
Day 3: The last day came with a mixture of emotions. Intrigued and excited about what I would learn today but saddened that I would be leaving soon to return to school. My favourite speech that day was about thee media and the do’s and don’ts for aviation experts. I learnt some thought provoking things but it also made me laugh. That evening I was told to dress up to attend the closing dinner.
My table at dinner
The food was delicious and the company was great. But the best part of the night was when I became an Honorary Junior Member of ISASI. Too cool!
Thank you to everyone that made this possible.
I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity. For all the things I learnt, the people I met and the experiences I gained.
Thank you so much to everyone who made it possible!
-Eve Cogan
Congratulations!! A great honour but well deserved.What an amazing experience to go to the conference;furthermore this should boost your petition.
Eve, I am so heartened that these specialists can see past your age and treat you seriously and as one of their select group of amazing people.
Congratulations to your family, your supporters but especially to you. Your application and persistence is remarkable and wonderful!
Stephanie