The operations of the Flight Safety Division are divided into the Airworthiness and Registration Section, Flight Operations Section, Training and Licencing Section, and one supporting department, Office of Certification and Analysis. More than 20 people work directly in the Flight Safety Division, and various persons also work on special projects on behalf of the Flight Safety Division, including examiners and doctors.

The projects consist, on the one hand, in overseeing the operation of aircraft and conducting oversight of the activities of air operators, maintenance organisations, flight schools, aeromedical centres, etc., and, on the other hand, in the issue of various licences or certificates. In addition, there are various related projects, for example, analysis of information on flight safety and inspections of foreign aircraft. The Flight Safety Division also participates in the organisation of laws and rules concerning flight safety as well as in various collaborations on safety issues. Furthermore, the Division seeks to communicate information on flight safety and encourage discussion in the field.

To attend to its role in flight safety and serve its customers, including air operators, flight schools, and flight crew members, as well as possible, the Flight Safety Division needs to work internationally to ensure the interests of its clients, not least by contributing to flight safety being upheld in an international context. The Flight Safety Division has therefore fully participated in the operations of the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) in recent years. The Flight Safety Division has always placed an emphasis on being among the JAA states which quickly adopt coordinated JAA rules, and were therefore among the first to adopt JAR-FCL for flight crews and JAR-OPS1 for larger air operators.

The development in recent years has been that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is taking over the role of JAA and already in 2004 took over issues concerning maintenance management, maintenance organisations, type certificates, etc. In 2008, EASA took over oversight and development and coordination regarding requirements in flight operations and licence issues. Iceland is a party to EASA and the Flight Safety Division participates in its operations.

The following are the goals of the Flight Safety Division:
• Ensuring that flight safety is comparable to best practices overseas, but still in way that operations of Icelandic parties involved in aviation are not unduly burdened.
• Ensuring that all assessments are professional, verifiable, and that documented procedures are followed.
• That there is no doubt as to the reliability, traceability, and results of assessments and that the legal basis of actions is unequivocal.
• Communicating information on flight safety.
  • Maintaining reliable records on and ensuring professional and swift processing of licences, certificates, and authorisations.

The Flight Safety Division is divided into three sections and one office:
• Training and Licencing Section
• Flight Operations Section
• Airworthiness and Registration Section
• Office of Certification and Analysis

Einar Örn Héðinsson, Director Flight Safety
tel: +354 569 4100
fax: +354 562 3619
e-mail: einarh@caa.is





The Director of the Flight Safety Division is Einar Örn Héðinsson. Einar Örn completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iceland in 1994, and an M.SC from DTU in 1997. Einar Örn began work as an engineer at the Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration in 1997, became Head of the Licencing Section in 2003, and took over as Director of the Flight Safety Division in 2007.