FAA Proposes Rule on Use of Airline Safety Data

WASHINGTON - In a major step toward reaching the goal of reducing the commercial aviation accident rate by 80 percent by 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today proposed a rule requiring airlines to share aggregate safety data with the FAA if they choose to have a Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) program. FOQA helps prevent accidents by identifying the root causes of potential safety issues. It uses state-of-the-art flight data recorder technology to collect and analyze data on routine flights. Airlines collect data about everyday safety trends in their operations and would now be required to share the data with the FAA. The agency would then use the data to identify industry-wide safety trends, allowing the FAA and industry to more effectively target resources and correct potential safety problems. The information and insights provided by these programs can enhance line operational safety, training effectiveness, operational procedures, maintenance and engineering procedures, air traffic control procedures, and airport surface safety. Participation in FOQA is voluntary and programs must be FAA-approved. The FAA would not use FOQA data for enforcement purposes, except in egregious cases. The rule would finalize existing FAA policy on the use of FOQA data. "Improving safety means stopping accidents before they happen," U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater said. "Identifying trends based on real-world data allows us to be proactive in our approach to aviation safety, and advances our goal of making the world's safest aviation system even safer." "FOQA programs are already producing the hard data we need to identify safety trends, target potential problems and make corrections before accidents happen," said FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey. "This is an excellent example of the government and industry working together to produce results that will directly benefit the traveling public."