Foundation Charter Built on Communication

Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is dedicated to improving worldwide aviation safety. Nonprofit and independent, the Foundation was launched in 1947 to respond to the aviation industry’s need for a neutral clearinghouse to disseminate objective safety information. FSF is a credible and knowledgeable body that identifies threats to safety, studies the problems and recommends practical solutions for them.

Articles Emphasize Safety

Safety is a necessary ingredient in manuscripts selected for publication. The Foundation’s scheduled periodical, AeroSafety World, addresses several broad subject areas, and few aviation topics are outside its scope.

Clarity

AeroSafety World is written in English, but is distributed to many persons whose primary language is not English. Thus, clear writing is especially important.

Follow Guidelines to Prepare Manuscripts

Documents should be sent in both digital and hard copy format. The author may be asked to incorporate or review editorial changes that will lead to acceptance for publication.

Art should accompany the manuscript.

• Attribution. Identify information that is copied from another source by quotation marks. Cite the quoted information accurately and attribute its source. Quote only information that can be attributed to specific individuals or publications, not to unidentified or “company representative” sources.

Confirm your facts. Verify the accuracy of numerical data, especially information taken from graphs, charts and tables.

List and number sources at the end of the manuscript, in the same order in which they are cited in the text, in a section called “Notes.” Number endnotes sequentially, beginning with “1” (see Notes).

• Author’s Biography. Outline your current position, background, education and special accomplishments that reflect the experience and knowledge that qualifies you to write credibly about the manuscript’s subject.

• Hard Copy Specifications. One copy of the manuscript on white paper is required. Use a plain 12-point typeface. Leave the back side of each page blank. Double-space text.

• Cover Letter. Provide daytime and evening telephone numbers, fax number (if applicable) and your e-mail address. If you are a U.S. citizen or resident, provide your Social Security number or your business’ tax identification number.

• Editing. The editorial staff, which must protect the credibility and reputation of the Foundation, reserves the right to edit all manuscripts. Authors are consulted if substantive changes are necessary.

  Manuscripts are edited to comply with the Foundation’s standards and styles, which are based on The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, The Chicago Manual of Style and the FSF style book.

• First Printing Rights. The Foundation reserves first printing rights. The author must agree that the manuscript shall appear in the Foundation publication before being republished elsewhere. The director of publications can waive this requirement under certain circumstances.

• Graphs, Tables, Charts and Illustrations. Visual display of quantitative information reduces the need for lengthy explanations, summarizes data, clarifies relationships and emphasizes/reinforces article content.

Authors are welcome to provide photographs, graphs, tables, charts and illustrations as digital documents or as paper documents (hard copy art). Digital documents are preferred whenever possible, but either rough sketches or refined visual presentations (with adequate data) can be adapted for publication.

Do not fold or crease hard copies of graphs, tables, charts or illustrations for shipment.

• Photographs. Digital photos in TIFF or JPEG format must be of sufficient resolution to produce a 300 dpi image at a useable size. Photo prints and transparencies are also accepted.

Write brief captions in the present tense; they should add information that is not obvious from looking at the image. Identify each person from left to right (clockwise). Use complete names, titles and affiliations. If appropriate, provide other information such as date, location and photo credit.

The Foundation prefers to retain all published photographs; if requested by the author, prints, transparencies and negatives will be returned after publication.

• Payment. Flight Safety Foundation buys all rights to the author’s manuscript, and payment is made at the rate of US$300 per full page as published, to a maximum of $1,500. An additional payment of $50 is made for each published piece of original art — photographs, charts, figures, illustrations and tables — that is prepared by the author. A check for payment is mailed within 10 days after publication. If there are multiple authors, the check is usually issued to the first author listed on the manuscript.

Each author will receive a complimentary one-year subscription to AeroSafety World.

• Extra Copies. At no charge, you will be mailed six copies of the periodical in which your article is published. The editorial staff can arrange to print additional copies at minimum cost to you, but you must make this request well before the periodical goes to press.

• Publication and Copyright. Generally, the manuscript must be unpublished and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. In some circumstances, the Foundation may consider a previously published manuscript if it has been rewritten and adapted for Foundation readers. If your manuscript has been copyrighted, a copyright transfer may be required before your manuscript will be published by the Foundation. Contact the director of publications for more information.

To disseminate credible and objective safety information as widely as possible, the Foundation buys all rights to each manuscript, and the author must sign a transfer of copyright. Nevertheless, the public is encouraged to reproduce information, in whole or in part, from reports, proceedings of seminars and scheduled periodicals that are published by the Foundation.

• Notes. Cite the sources that support your manuscript’s text by following the examples listed below:

Book: Author’s last name, first name [omit degrees and affiliations, but middle initial can be included in all examples]; second author’s last name, second author’s first name [if applicable]. Title of Book. City, state, country [publisher’s location]: publisher, year.

Collier, Basil. A History of Air Power. New York, New York, United States: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1974.

Meeting Paper [published]: Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Paper.” In [Name of Publication or Proceedings], edited by [omit if no editor’s name is given]. City, state, country [publisher’s location]: Publisher, year.

Koplin, Klaus. “The JAA Safety Strategy Initiative.” In Keeping Safety a Worldwide Priority: Proceedings of the 55th annual International Air Safety Seminar, IFA 32nd International Conference and IATA. Alexandria, Virginia, United States: Flight Safety Foundation, 2002.

Meeting Paper [unpublished]: Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Paper.” Paper presented at [name of meeting, location of meeting, month and year of meeting].

Mason, Jeanette. “Safety Adds Up.” Paper presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of Aerospace Chief Financial Officers, Mesa, Arizona, United States, May 2001.

Periodical: Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Name of Periodical Volume number (issue number or date of issue): page range.

Veillette, Patrick R. “Most Fatal U.S. Commercial Helicopter Accidents Occur in Instrument Meteorological Conditions.” Flight Safety Digest Volume 22 (January 2003): 1–56.

Reports: Author’s last name, first name [or organization if no author is listed]. Title of Report, contract number or serial number [if provided]. A special report prepared at the request of [name of agency]. Month and year.

Flight Safety Foundation. Air Carrier Voluntary Flight Operational Quality Assurance Program, Contract No. DTFA01-92-C-00010. A special report prepared at the request of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. March 1993.

• Style. Spell out all names on first usage, followed by the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses. For example, write "Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)." Many abbreviations and acronyms may not be familiar to all readers.

Need More Information?

Contact: J.A. Donoghue, director of publications
Flight Safety Foundation
601 Madison St., Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314-1956 U.S.
Telephone: (703) 739-6700, extension 116

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