April 10, 2019
A recent FAA Fact Sheet – Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) Program – highlights agency and industry efforts over the past 11 years to continuously improve safety through the open exchange of safety data.
Eighty-eight business aircraft operators, 47 Part 121 airlines, 12 universities, five manufacturers and two maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations participate in ASIAS. The FAA plans to phase in more business aviation and light general aviation operators, as well as the helicopter industry.
“NBAA encourages members to participate in safety data sharing programs, whether through providing narrative safety reports,[Flight Operational Quality Assurance] FOQA or FOQA-like data, or other means,” said Mark Larsen, NBAA’s senior manager of safety and flight operations. “Data sharing is an important way to benefit the community broadly and to learn lessons from other aviation organizations.”
NBAA’s Safety Committee recognized the importance of safety data sharing by including the issue in its Top Safety Focus Areas of 2019.
ASIAS is a data repository of more than a dozen public and proprietary data sources, including, but not limited to:
- ASAP (Aviation Safety Action Program) and ASRS (Aviation Safety Reporting System through NASA), and proprietary system narrative safety reports
- FOQA (Flight Operational Quality Assurance) and FOQA-like flight operations data
- NMAC (Near Mid-Air Collision reports) and other ATC narrative safety reports
- SDR (Service Difficulty Reports)
- Aeronautical facility (airport and heliport) information
The General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GAJSC) and airline-oriented corollary Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) are integral components to ASIAS. The GAJSC uses operations data to identify risks, develop recommended risk mitigation measures and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented solutions.
ASIAS also partners with the semi-annual Aviation Safety InfoShare meeting.
NBAA actively represents its membership in many ASIAS initiatives, including participating in InfoShare and GAJSC, and assuming leadership roles within the ASIAS program.
Doug Carr, NBAA vice president of regulatory and international affairs, is a member of the ASIAS Executive Board, which oversees the ASIAS initiative. Larsen is a member of the General Aviation Issue Analysis Team that focuses on general aviation safety topics and develops proposals on priorities and process changes for consideration.
“NBAA has long supported FAA/industry data sharing initiatives through programs such as ASIAS as a means to prevent incidents and accidents in business aviation,” said Larsen. “We know effective and broad-reaching aviation safety data sharing will help the industry evolve to the next level of safety.”
Read the FAA’s Fact Sheet – Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing Program.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.