Rules of the sky
The Federal Aviation Administration wants to take advantage of airline digital flight recorder data to improve the safety of its airspace system.
The Federal Aviation Administration wants to take advantage of airline digital
flight recorder data to improve the safety of its airspace system.
Under the proposed Flight Operational Quality Assurance rule, if an
airline chooses to have an FOQA program, it must share aggregate flight
operations data with the FAA for use in monitoring safety trends. The FAA
could use that data as a basis for making safety rules or to address situations
calling for remedial enforcement of an operator or aircraft.
An FOQA program involves the routine analysis of flight data generated
during line operations in order to reveal problems that require corrective
action and to enable corrective action before problems occur. Eight airlines
have FOQA programs, one has a program that is awaiting FAA approval and
five others say they plan to initiate programs in the future, according
to the FAA.
As part of the rule, voluntarily submitted safety information would
be protected from public disclosure.
The rule's comment period closes Oct. 3.
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