Jamaican Elected Chairman of Regional Aviation Safety Group

Acting Director General of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Derby, has been elected Chairman of the newly-established Regional Aviation Safety Group-Pan America (RASG-PA).
The election took place at the inaugural meeting of the group, held from November 10 to 14, in Costa Rica.
The RASG-PA, which reports to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), will serve as a focal point for the ICAO, to ensure harmonisation and co-ordination of safety efforts, aimed at reducing aviation risks in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.
This will be achieved through its implementation of the Global Safety Initiatives, arising from the ICAO’s Global Aviation Safety Plan, in keeping with the expectations of member States and the aviation industry.
Lt. Col. Derby is a 27-year veteran of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), and former head of the Air Wing. He holds an MBA in Public Sector Management and is a graduate of the British Army Staff College and the USAF Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, in the United States.
A pilot, he joined the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), in 2000 as an Aviation Safety Inspector of Flight Operations. He was promoted to Deputy Director General, Regulatory Affairs in 2002, and was appointed to act as Director General in July 2008, on the retirement of Colonel Torrance Lewis.
No stranger to international appointments, since 2002 Lt. Col. Derby has been serving as Chairman of a multi-regional Aviation Security Committee, which operates under the Caribbean and South American Planning and Implementation Group (GREPECAS). He currently serves as First Vice-Chairman of GREPECAS, an ICAO multi-regional body for air navigation safety.
Over the years, Jamaica has been represented on a number of international and regional aviation bodies. Since 1974, Jamaica has been a contracting state to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and has, in the past, held a seat on the International Council of ICAO.