Aviation Safety Action Program

About ASAP

The goal of the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) is to enhance aviation safety through the prevention of accidents and incidents. Its focus is to encourage voluntary reporting of safety issues and events that come to the attention of employees of certain certificate holders.

The program encourages an employee to voluntarily report safety issues even though they may involve an alleged violation of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), enforcement-related incentives have been designed into the program.

For aviation organizations with an SMS, an ASAP could partially satisfy the requirement for a confidential reporting system under 14 CFR § 5.71(a)(7) if designed into their SMS. It is important to remember SMS requires a confidential reporting system for all employees, where ASAP only applies to employee groups covered by the ASAP MOU.

An Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) is built on a collaborative safety partnership between key stakeholders:

  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (Required)
  • Aviation Organization (Required)
  • Employee Labor Association(s) (Optional)
  • Third-Party Facilitator (Optional)

Corporate ASAP (C-ASAP)

ASAP is available in an optional form, Corporate ASAP (C-ASAP) that allows an aviation organization to operate under a single MOU regardless of its size, scope, and complexity. This can include multiple aviation organizations owned by the same parent company/organization and overseen by a single responsible Flight Standards office. C-ASAP allows an organization with several different DBAs to have one ASAP program covering multiple organizations. It covers all defined employee groups as they perform duties within the scope of their employment, thereby allowing them to submit ASAP reports to their ERC. C-ASAP allows flexibility with the reduced requirement of multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs).

Automated MOU Generator

The elements of ASAP are set forth in a MOU between the FAA and the aviation organization. The FAA provides an Automated MOU Generator to make this easier. The MOU Generator creates an ASAP or Corporate ASAP MOU for aviation organizations operating under of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) parts 91, 91K, 119, 121, 121/135, 133, 135, 137, 141, 142, 145, and 147 that fully complies with FAA ASAP policy, thereby expediting the FAA review and acceptance process. 

The establishment of an ASAP or Corporate ASAP is available to any aviation organization that has the resources and ability to effectively implement and operate these programs. The automated MOU generator produces an ASAP MOU in Microsoft Word, based on the user's input. Although the resulting MOU may then be edited by the user, operators are cautioned not to make editorial changes that relate to ASAP policies. ASAP MOU submissions should be based on the most recent version of MOU generator.

The ASAP MOU Automated Generator User Guide provides step-by-step instructions to create traditional single organization, single employee group ASAP MOUs and Corporate ASAP MOUs. The user guide is located on this page under the Guides, Best Practices & Lessons Learned section.
 

Policy & Guidance

Where can I get support or find additional information about ASAP?

For additional questions and support, contact the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Safety Standards, Safety Management Branch:  ASAP@faa.gov. If you are contacting the Safety Management Branch, please include the 14 CFR part associated with the request or question and provide the company/organization name, designator number, and location (city/state), if applicable.

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