The IAA’s most recent State Plan for Aviation Safety (SPAS) 2025 Update claims to support the growth of general aviation and future aviation professionals. Under Strategic Priority 5 of its Statement of Strategy, the IAA promises action – but the reality looks more like repetition.
When Volume II of the 2025 Update was published, I expected to see fresh progress. Instead, it was largely a copy-and-paste of last year’s version, with deadlines quietly pushed out or labelled as “ongoing.” That prompted me to dig into the details – and what I found was a mix of vague claims, recycled statements, and several inaccuracies.
To be fair, I put eight of those questionable points to the IAA and received a detailed reply. I don’t agree with some of their explanations, but here are the key takeaways.
Safety Promotion – Or Just Box-Ticking?
The IAA claims in section 7.1.2 that it shares safety information with the GA community to help reduce accidents. Apart from a single PLAM on plan continuation bias – which came from an AAIU Safety Recommendation – I can’t recall any meaningful outreach.
They pointed to GASCI safety evenings as evidence. Yes, topics were discussed there in previous years – but attendance has been consistently poor, and relying on a handful of small gatherings isn’t a substitute for proper safety communication.
When asked for examples of their promotional work, the IAA said they fund GASCI expenses, provide meeting support, and help organise safety evenings. That’s fine, but hardly evidence of an active safety promotion strategy.
GASCI – Useful Forum or Convenient Cover?
GASCI has value, but it risks being used by the IAA as a low-cost way to avoid taking real responsibility for GA safety and engagement. They say there are 24 members, yet minutes from the September meeting show just six non-IAA/AAIU attendees – not exactly representative.
I resigned from GASCI two years ago after the IAA mishandled the Athlone airspace change (R24) without consulting the community or following their own procedures. The change affected GA pilots directly, yet GASCI was never even told.
As for safety evenings, only one has taken place in the last 18 months, with 12 people attending. The IAA claimed Spring 2025 plans collapsed “last minute” due to a venue issue, but no details were ever publicised.
Despite this, the 2025 SPAS suggests safety issues are “regularly addressed” – a statement that simply isn’t backed up by activity or attendance. For the record: this isn’t an attack on GASCI itself. It’s about the IAA claiming success by outsourcing its responsibilities.
Airspace Infringements
Airspace infringements have appeared in every State Safety Plan for years – but real action is hard to find. The only public graphic the IAA ever published is a low-res map from about a decade ago.
When asked for specifics, the IAA said the topic was “addressed” at past GASCI events and that AirNav Ireland was due to present in Autumn 2024 – except there was no such event, and no material has been published. I attended one of AirNav’s own workshops – it focused on Safety Management Systems, not infringements.
The IAA already holds all the data via occurrence reports. Publishing it in simple graphical form would help pilots understand hotspot areas and take practical action. Mentioning the issue informally to a few dozen people over two years doesn’t come close to meeting the commitments in the SPAS.
They’ve now said they’ll engage with AirNav to get material out through IAA/GASCI channels and hope for a presentation at the next GASCI evening. That’s welcome – but overdue.
Final Thought
The IAA says it wants to “support the growth of future aviation professionals and general aviation in Ireland.” If that’s more than a slogan, senior management needs to acknowledge what hasn’t worked and properly resource GA safety promotion and engagement. Recycling reports and pointing to sparsely attended meetings isn’t enough. General aviation deserves action – not cut-and-paste commitments.
Additional Reading
Click here to view a comparison PDF of the 2025 (page 1-8) and 2024 (page 9-16) SPAS Updates. Differences between the two documents are highlighted in red. As shown, the majority of the content remains unchanged, with most changes affecting formatting.
