Position change: Chief of Flight Safety

We are delighted to inform you about the position change of Alessandro Patumi - long term employee and highly valuable team member of Avion Express.

Alessandro joined Avion Express in 2014 as a Captain. After some time, back in 2016, he joined Safety Department as a Flight Safety Officer. His main responsibility was to investigate safety related issues arising in the flight operations area. Later, with an increase of our Safety team, he became Senior Flight Safety Officer taking a lead in systematization of safety concerns and working jointly with Flight Operations and Crew Training management in safety improvement. Beyond these responsibilities, Alessandro was closely involved in the Flight Crew training as a Line Training Captain (LTC), passing his aircraft flying knowledge to the pilots and checking if they meet standards of Avion Express. In addition to that, in 2017 he became a Type Rating Examiner (TRE) broadening his qualifications to examine the proficiency of the pilots in simulator. 

At the beginning of 2020 Alessandro was appointed to the Chief Pilots’ position. It was a continuous buildup of his career proofed by his commitment, sense of diligence and proactivity. 

Following the determination of the company for solid expansion and other strategical business decisions for the future Avion Express, a need to review the structure of Safety Department and its manpower occurred. Subsequently an urge for an experienced professional to lead the team of Flight Safety Officers and FDM Officers arose. Alessandro’s promotion to the position of Chief of Flight Safety recognized the contribution to safety he has made in Avion Express for the last 7 years. 

Flight safety was always Alessandro’s passion and point of interest. Besides writing safety related articles and creating an aviation accident website, he has passed comprehensive course of incident and accident investigation techniques.

“Learning from other errors is a must for any pilot. Accident, incident and airprox are decreasing year after year even though the global worldwide air traffic, in terms of flights and passengers, is constantly increasing. Still many accidents happen, 90% of them during takeoff and initial climb-out or during approach and landing. One of the ways that pilots have to increase their airmanship and achieve safer habits is to learn from other’s mistakes”, comments Alessandro. 

As safety is a number one priority in the airline business, the main responsibilities in the new role will be to oversee the whole flight safety area of the company aiming to address and mitigate the existing safety risks. 

Alessandro is from Italy, born in Rimini - the enchanting city on the Adriatic coast. He started flying when he was 17. At that time, he did not even have a driving license, so he was going to the flying school by bicycle. 

Alessandro’s achievements are overwhelming: 13400 hours flown; 662384 passengers carried; 61 countries visited, and more than 200 times rounded the planet. He likes to travel, and 61 countries visited is not the end, he plans to keep on going. Japan has a soft spot in his heart, he has been there 15 times!  

Alessandro plays piano and trumpet. As is typical for Italians, he enjoys cooking and his dishes are already recognized by some of our co-workers. In his leisure time he rides a motorcycle, although he admits that the weather conditions in Lithuania are not as suitable for this hobby.  

Please join us in congratulating Alessandro with his new role and wishing him the best in this vital safety position!