SASO Current Status

In the coming months, SASO Program Office will focus on Safety Promotion and Safety Assurance.

Safety Promotion Outreach Team (SPOT) Briefings

As Flight Standards (AFS) continues to move towards a SAS environment, the SASO Program Office formed the new Safety Promotion Outreach Team to communicate SMS and system safety to the field. The Safety Promotion Outreach Team has been educating the AFS workforce on SASO, SMS, and SAS; gathering data from the field; and helping develop field communication materials.

SPOT began briefing AFS offices on SASO, SMS, and SAS in April 2009 and visited all 142 offices by the end of September 2009. If you missed your office briefing, you can now experience the briefing online through Web-Based Training (WBT). The WBT includes all content from the in-person SPOT briefing and downloadable resources for further information. It also features introductory and closing comments from Doug Dalbey (AFS-2F). All employees are encouraged to view the briefing by October 23, 2009, and will receive eLMS credit (eLMS Course Code: FAA27100115). Employees who attended in person have already received eLMS credit for participating (eLMS Course Code: FAA21000044). For questions about accessing this WBT please check with your training coordinator.

AFS SAS Design

The FAA aims to improve safety beyond current levels by instituting a risk-based approach to safety oversight. A Safety Management System (SMS) is a risk-based approach to managing an organization’s safety. An SMS has four components: Policy, Safety Promotion, Safety Assurance, and Safety Risk Management. The AFS SAS, or Safety Assurance System, refers to the combination of people, processes, and technology that will constitute AFS’s safety assurance capability. SASO is currently working to develop the AFS SAS.

In September 2009, the SASO Program Office concluded a series of workshops aimed at developing the AFS SAS. The workshops included participants from field offices and headquarters divisions. Participants provided, reviewed, and validated information for the AFS SAS.

2009 AFS SAS Workshop Highlights

• Documented the oversight activities (such as certification and surveillance) that employees will perform as part of the AFS SAS, including who will perform activities, when, and in what order
• Created a way to standardize descriptions of different certificate holder or applicant operations, which will allow the AFS SAS to accommodate differences while ensuring consistency
• Designed AFS SAS tools that will give inspectors more repeatable and objective ways to record inspection observations, as well as rationale to support findings
• Explored ways to improve and standardize data by considering different question-and-answer techniques for future inspection activities
• Designed a way for the AFS SAS to identify the correct oversight activities based on certificate holder differences (such as size, complexity, and risk) in 14 CFR Parts 121, 135, and 145
• Developed ways for the AFS SAS to prioritize oversight activities (such as certification and surveillance) and assign resources to address the highest risk

We thank all workshop participants for generously volunteering their time. Moving into FY2010, the SASO Program Office will continue to develop the AFS SAS, specifically the enterprise IT solution, automation requirements, and training.

Systems Alignment

Systems Alignment ensures that tools and technology are designed to better support AFS oversight processes. The SASO Program Office is leading the project management and implementation activities that will evolve AFS legacy applications in preparation for the AFS SAS.

Several systems will complete their transition to a Web environment by the end of Calendar Year (CY) 2009, including Logbook, Flight Standards Automation Subsystems (FSAS), and the combination of AFS Operations Safety System (OPSS) and Industry Operations Safety System (IOPSS) into WebOPSS. The Master Minimum Equipment List (MMEL) Subsystem, including MEL reporting, is also being updated as a stand-alone application by the end of CY2009.

Once updated to a Web environment, these systems will be able to re-use data across many applications. As a result, inspectors will spend less time on data entry.

Please see the Fall 2009 Systems Alignment Detailed Update (PDF) for more information on these applications, their planned improvements, and expected dates of completion.

The SASO Road Map (PDF) includes a timeline for the SASO program.