Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) unveils new airline inspection program

Citation

(1999), "Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) unveils new airline inspection program", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308bab.004

Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) unveils new airline inspection program

Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) unveils new airline inspection program.

US Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater and FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey last week unveiled a new systematic, data-driven air carrier inspection program which will better enable FAA inspectors to spot safety trends and catch problems before they lead to an incident or accident.

Under the Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS), which will be phased-in over three years beginning October 1998, each air carrier will have a dynamic, comprehensive surveillance plan specific to its operations.

"President Clinton and Vice President Gore have made safety our top transportation priority," Slater said. "As part of our new Safer Skies agenda, this new safety inspection process is common sense government which will make the world's safest skies even safer."

"We know that the current oversight system cannot produce the changes necessary to significantly lower the accident rate. In the past, we have focused on the symptoms. Now we will focus on root causes," Garvey said.

Goal

"By the end of this year, ATOS will begin to raise the bar above minimum compliance with aviation safety standards and will help us achieve our Safer Skies goal of reducing accidents by 80 per cent over the next ten years."

Beginning in October 1998, ATOS Phase 1 will focus on the ten major passenger air carriers ­ Alaska, America West, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, TWA, United and US Airways ­ as well as any new entrant certificated by the FAA's Certification, Standardisation and Evaluation Team (CSET), a new national team of inspectors who help local FAA Flight Standards district offices process new air carrier certificates.

Other air carriers will be introduced to ATOS by October, 1999. The FAA will continue to take enforcement action against carriers that do not comply with federal regulations. ATOS will take the agency beyond the role of enforcer and foster a higher level of safety through more focused, extensive inspections tailored to each individual air carrier.

Analysis

ATOS will undergo continuous analysis so the agency is able to shift resources as necessary. This new way of doing business incorporates the following aspects:

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  ATOS will analyse air carrier safety systems. It will identify risks by integrating the work of the agency's expert inspector workforce with hard data.

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  A new ATOS database under development will identify emerging safety trends and direct inspectors to re-target surveillance based on data that are shared nation-wide.

Plan

The database will include the surveillance plan and tools for each air carrier. It will also include inspection results and information on safety performance. Inspectors will have rapid access to national safety information.

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  Each air carrier will be assigned a certificate management team (CMT) that will tailor surveillance to the carrier's specific operations. In addition to the local inspectors, geographic inspectors will receive training on their assigned carrier's policies and procedures.

Previously, inspectors were assigned to several air carriers and did not receive specialised training.

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  The regular surveillance work program and National Aviation Safety Inspection Program (NASIP) inspections will be replaced by a more flexible, focused program outlined by the CMT using new data analysis tools. Plans will be updated annually.

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  The ATOS process will undergo an ongoing audit to evaluate effectiveness.

The Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS), the union representing aviation inspectors, has worked in partnership with FAA management to develop ATOS.

This autumn (1998), approximately 900 CMT inspectors will he trained on ATOS policies and procedures, systems safety, risk analysis, automation and team-work skills. In addition, each CMT will be assigned an analyst and a data evaluation specialist. "PASS supports the principles behind ATOS and it is the union's sincere desire to work in partnership with the FAA to see our efforts come to fruition," said Robert Carlisle, an FAA inspector representing PASS.

Sandia

Sandia National Laboratories, a Department of Energy national security laboratory, focused on the safety and security of the US nuclear weapons stockpile, has worked with the FAA since 1996 to re-engineer the FAA's supervision process.

Sandia's policy of "accidents are unacceptable" in the nuclear environment as well as its expertise in systems engineering, system safety, and safeguards lends a unique perspective to the FAA's safety programme.

Air carriers are responsible for operating at the highest level of safety and FAA inspectors ensure that they comply with federal regulations. Currently, air carriers receive a mandatory, scheduled inspections specified in an annual work program based on the carrier's level of operations.

Additional inspections are conducted at the discretion of the carrier's principal FAA inspectors assigned. This "expert-based," non-systematic approach relies on the expertise of the inspectors assigned to an air carrier.

ATOS will use a data-driven system to identify safety trends.(Lloyd's Casualty Week, Vol. 312 No 8, 22 May 1998)