Feed the world

Pilots flying into war zones and disaster areas may be risking their lives. But the World Food Programme's Samir Sajet insists providing aid relief is a vital role.

What is the United Nations' involvement in the aviation industry?

In the UN there are two bodies dealing with aviation. One is in New York and this is the department of peace keeping. It deals with peacekeeping forces and is a totally separate operation from what we do.

The other body deals with humanitarian air services, which is located in Italy, and that takes care of the World Food Programme (WFP).

The programme's mandate is to take care of humanitarian air services on behalf of all UN agencies. It transports food, non-food items and passengers such as UN officials and diplomats.

For the WFP offices, we have one dealing with operations and contracting and the other concentrating on aviation safety.

The first focuses on contracts with air carriers and aircraft chartering, while the aviation safety mandate is to select a good operator or carrier that complies with international standards.

To do this, we first hear from air carriers willing to deal with us and other service providers. We then provide air carriers with our safety requirements and check whether they comply.

For example, we have to make sure they meet our standards for registration, operations and maintenance. After that, we evaluate the company's risk based on its standard and decide whether or not we can work with it.

If we can, the air carrier will be registered with us contacted when we need aircraft. If the risk is unacceptable, we will get in touch and provide recommendations.

What risks might you find in some charter operators?

They may not follow the right maintenance schedule or implement safety recommendations. We evaluate the company's risk mitigation and the amount it invests in safety. For example, a pilot might not be trained for the job, so this person may need to undergo certain training.

We have six areas to look at during a visit, which are organisation structure, ground and flight operations, the aircraft, air worthiness, training of staff, and aviation security and safety.

After that we try to improve the operator's safety and culture, as well as maintenance.