Fact Sheet

Aviation Safety Organization Initiatives

Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters and FAA Acting Administrator Robert A. Sturgell in April announced a number of new initiatives to maintain our safety vigilance. The FAA has made substantial progress toward implementing these new efforts.

Safety Issues Reporting System

Development of the Safety Issues Reporting System (SIRS) to give Aviation Safety organization employees a new way to raise safety concerns if they feel they are not receiving the necessary airing or response from supervisory and management personnel.

• Status: SIRS became operational on schedule as of April 30.

Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program Approvals

Changes to the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program to report compliance discrepancies are submitted by senior airline officials such as the Director of Safety, the Director of Operations or the Director of Maintenance, to ensure there is awareness and sensitivity at the highest level. The FAA principal inspector and office manager will determine whether to accept the report and evaluate whether corrective actions were implemented and effective.

• Status: The FAA issued revised guidance as planned on May 1 to its inspector workforce requiring additional signoffs by the appropriate air carrier officials. The policy change also requires the FAA certificate office management to sign off both on the submission from the carrier and the comprehensive fix proposed by the carrier.

Airworthiness Directive Review

The AD review initiative involved a team of representatives from the FAA, air carriers, aviation associations, original equipment manufacturers and independent experts who reviewed the entire AD process.

Status: The work group will complete its work by mid-September. Some of their recommendations will likely look at areas such as:

• Improving industry training on best wiring practices
• Developing processes to address AD questions at a higher official level
• Improving the way manufacturers write service documents
• Eliminating single-point decision making where possible
• Developing processes to review work in progress in advance of the compliance date.

Ethics Policy Enhancement

Proposed two-year restrictions on the interaction former inspectors can have with the FAA in post-agency employment, bringing them in line with or exceeding existing restrictions for other federal employees.

• Status: The rulemaking project was approved on May 14, 2008. The FAA plans to publish the proposed rule for public comment in FY09.

ASIAS Expansion

Expansion of the Aviation Safety and Analysis Sharing Program (ASIAS) to fold in Air Transportation and Oversight System (ATOS) information, providing a new blend of data that will afford an additional look at nationwide safety trends.

• Status: The FAA is developing processes to analyze ATOS data and share safety information. With all 117 carriers participating in ATOS, the expansion will provide a new blend of data resulting in an additional look at nationwide trends. The ATOS data has been integrated and loaded into the FAA ASIAS program. A team is determining the appropriate metrics to monitor national trends.

Independent Review Team

An outside team of aviation and safety experts to evaluate and craft recommendations to improve the FAA’s implementation of the aviation safety system and its culture of safety.

• Status: The Independent Review Team of five highly regarded outside experts examined FAA procedures and met with hundreds of government, industry, and FAA experts over the last 120 days. Secretary Peters is reviewing the team's final report.

Airworthiness Directive Compliance Audits

An FAA review to validate that air carrier work instructions correctly describe the method of compliance contained in the AD.

• Status:  In the audit program’s first phase, which ran from March 13–28, FAA inspectors sampled compliance with 10 ADs for each fleet at each air carrier. They performed 2,392 reviews of ADs at all 117 air carriers, questioning compliance in 34 cases. The questions were eventually resolved through compliance or alternate ways of doing the required work.

In Phase II, which ended June 30, inspectors used their experience and knowledge of the airline to select and review 10 percent of the ADs applicable to the airline fleet for which they are responsible. Those ADs already reviewed in Phase I counted toward the total of 10 percent. During this second phase — which was a broader sampling — inspectors performed 3,236 additional audits, questioning compliance in 88 cases.

Other Issues

In addition to the new initiatives announced in April, the FAA also has made progress on two other issues discussed at that time:

Air Carrier Evaluation Program (ACEP)

An agency program to review certain air carrier maintenance programs to confirm they meet regulatory standards.

• Status: The FAA has drafted changes to ACEP policy, including having inspectors look into the relationship between the carrier and its FAA Certificate Management Office (CMO). The agency plans to incorporate the changes before the end of the calendar year.

Disciplinary action against FAA Southwest Region personnel

• Status: Two employees are on administrative leave, pending the results of investigations by the DOT Inspector General. A third employee under investigation opted to retire. A management official in the Southwest Airlines CMO was transferred from that office to the Southwest region. A fifth employee, also a management official, has received a letter of proposed action.