Question: how do you make sure that people are safe and happy on the airplane?

Sinead Quirke answered on 30 Jan 2015:

Safe I definitely look after but happy is not down to me that would be more to do with the cabin crew on day.

I make sure that every pilot flying an irish airplane and every air traffic controller in Ireland has been trained, has passed their exams and is fit and healthy. If they are then they get a licence. No one is allowed to fly or control traffic unless they have a licence. I also make sure that every aircraft engineer who looks after the planes has been trained and passed their exams.
Pilots, engineers and controllers have to send me a report every time something unsafe happens – last year I got 6500 reports. I then look for patterns in these reports to see what might lead to a plane crash and then figure out what needs to be done to break the bad patterns.
I also look at various airlines and airports and design a risk profile. We look at things like the age of their airplanes, the places they fly to, how much profit they make and many many more questions. We then decide if their operation is low, medium or high risk. We also look at how well they are managing the risk. So then a high risk airline which is not managing its risk well will be checked frequently by people in my company to make sure that things are being done safely.