Captain Shihab AI-Zaid has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with a concentration in Industrial/organizational Psychology as well as a Master of International Management with applied works in Cross Cultural Consideration. His 32 year aviation career started in commercial activities as a program coordinator with a legacy flag carrier. After a few years, he attained his Commercial Pilots License with a Frozen Airline Transport Pilot's License, where he started with the same carrier as an ab-initio pilot in the Airbus fleet. During his flying career, he remained in the Airbus Fleet, flying short, medium and longhaul sectors. After his command upgrade, he was assigned to the Flight Safety and Quality Assurance section. This is where his educational background and his professional career merged and his passion for organizational safety was rekindled. He was trained for Internal Auditing, IOSA Auditing, Flight Safety Investigation, Air Accident Investigation, Fatigue Risk Management and Safety Management System, mostly with IATA, resulting in a Diploma in Safety Management Systems for Airlines. In addition to his flying duties, he started his tenure as the head of the Flight Data Monitoring and Flight Safety Research Group. After a few years in that capacity, he was assigned as Head of Flight Safety Audits where he acted as lead auditor for IOSA Flight, Dispatch and Cabin disciplines. Additional duties included training operational staff in the corporate Safety Management System.
