KUALA LUMPUR: Aviation industry players must make safety personal and harness technology to prevent accidents and the loss of life, says Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) chief executive officer Datuk Captain Norazman Mahmud.
He said safety intelligence, including artificial intelligence (AI), could help the industry analyse vast amounts of data, records and audit materials to identify risks before they lead to accidents.
“Imagine going into a room full of files, records and audit materials. We don't have time to do it. We need tools.
“Our aim, our target is actually to use the safety intelligence to prevent an accident like what happened two days ago. That is our aim,” he said at the Malaysia Aviation Safety Seminar 2026 (MASS ’26) here on Thursday (Sept 10).
Norazman appeared emotional as he referred to the Long Lellang Flying Doctor Service helicopter crash in Sarawak, which claimed five lives.
He said the roughly 500 participants at the seminar represented a vast pool of aviation knowledge and experience that could be turned into safety intelligence.
“We have about 500 people... about 5,000 years of experience, of knowledge that we need to churn, we need to analyse, we need to use the intelligence gathered to prevent such an accident,” he said.
Norazman said MASS ’26 was also aimed at strengthening the industry's safety culture by reminding aviation professionals that safety was ultimately about protecting lives.
“Why does it always break my heart when something like this happens? Because lives are at stake. Lives that are dear to us.
“This is the spirit of MASS. This is what we want to instil in all of you,” he said.
He said combining technology with the industry's collective expertise could ultimately help aviation achieve its goal of zero fatalities.
“Yes, we can call it AI or whatever intelligence. But we hope one day, with the goal of zero fatalities, we will achieve it with what we've created, with all the great minds here,” he said.
