Bruce Bickhaus

Bruce Bickhaus retired as Director of Safety, Training, Security, and Accident Investigation after serving seventeen years for the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the American Airlines Pilots union, and was responsible for the departmental staffing and activities under his Directorship following the events of 911.  He advised and represented AA pilots at FAA enforcement hearings, matters pertaining to FAR’s, and assisted with contractual issues, training deficiencies and flight problems system-wide.  He co-developed the ASAP (Airline Safety Action Partnership) program, a safety reporting and tracking program.  ASAP is an equal partnership between the Union, Company, and the FAA to identify and resolve safety problems in a non-punitive atmosphere before incidents and accidents occur.  In the Accident Investigation area, Mr. Bickhaus directed Union activities during three NTSB Go-Team investigations, developed Accident Investigation courses for investigators, implemented Bio-Hazard training for investigators, and implemented the first 24 hour A/I Response hotline.  Since retiring from APA, Mr. Bickhaus has consulted periodically for American Airlines, assisting the updating of post 911 safety in the areas of operations, procedures, security, reports, and represented the Flight Department on Weight and Balance issues. 

Previously Mr. Bickhaus was a manager of Aircraft Accident Investigation for Aerospace Management Services International (AMSI) investigating over 300 aircraft accidents in North, Central, and South America, plus Europe and Asia.  Besides the field investigations, he managed disassembly of major aircraft components to determine cause, designed and implemented specialized training courses, conducted USAIG safety audits on Part 121 carriers and conducted flight manual reviews for Dornier.

Mr. Bickhaus was with Braniff Airways for three years as a Flight Engineer, having come from the U.S. Air Force where he was a T-38 and F-4 pilot/instructor, completed the USAF Safety Accident Investigation School at USC.  He was Manager of Flight Safety at Korat Royal Thai AFB – Thailand and was Investigating Officer for three USAF accidents.

Mr. Bickhaus has been a member of ATPAC, NASA/ASRS Advisory Committee, NBAA (National Business Aircraft Assn), HAS (Helicopter Safety Foundation), and ISASI.  He has an ATP , typed Lear Jet, FER, Commercial, ASMEL and ASEL.