Wednesday, July 5, 2000
Part II
Department of Transportation
Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 13Flight Operational Quality AssuranceProgram; Proposed Rules
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Federal Register
/Vol. 65, No. 129/Wednesday, July 5, 2000/Proposed Rules
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONFederal Aviation Administration14 CFR Part 13
[Docket No. FAA–2000–7554; Notice No. 00–07]RIN 2120–AF04
Flight Operational Quality AssuranceProgram
AGENCY
:
Federal AviationAdministration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION
:
Notice of proposed rulemaking(NPRM).
SUMMARY
:
The FAA proposes to codifyan FAA policy encouraging thevoluntary implementation of FlightOperational Quality Assurance (FOQA)programs and clarifying thecircumstances under which informationobtained from voluntary FOQAprograms could be used in enforcementactions against air carriers, commercialoperators, or airmen. The rule wouldrequire air carriers participating inFOQA programs to submit aggregateFOQA data to the FAA for use inmonitoring safety trends. Under theproposed rule, the FAA may useaggregate FOQA data as a basis topromulgate safety rulemakings or toaddress situations calling for remedialenforcement action,
e.g.,
a lack of qualification on the part of an operatoror aircraft.
DATE
:
Comments on this proposal must be submitted on or before October 3,2000.
ADDRESSES
:
Address your comments tothe Docket Management system, U.S.Department of Transportation RoomPlaza 401, 400 Seventh St., SW.,Washington, DC 20590–0001. You mustidentify the docket number FAA–2000–7554 at the beginning of yourcomments, and you should submit twocopies of your comments. If you wish toreceive confirmation that FAA receivedyour comments, include a self-addressed, stamped postcard.You may also submit commentsthrough the Internet to
http:// dms.dot.gov.
You may review the publicdocket containing comments to theseproposed regulations in person in theDockets Office between 9 a.m. and 5p.m., Monday through Friday, exceptFederal holidays. The Dockets Office ison the plaza level of the NASSIFBuilding at the Department of Transportation at the above address.Also, you may review public dockets onthe Internet at
http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
:
Dr.Thomas Longridge, Flight StandardsService, AFS–230, Federal AviationAdministration, 800 IndependenceAvenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591,telephone (703) 661–0260.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
:
Comments Invited
Interested persons are invited toparticipate in the making of theproposed rule by submitting suchwritten data, views, or arguments asthey may desire. Comments relating tothe environmental, energy, federalism,or economic impact that might resultfrom adopting the proposals in thisnotice are also invited. Substantivecomments should be accompanied bycost estimates. Comments shouldidentify the regulatory docket or noticenumber and should be submitted induplicate to the Rules Docket addressspecified above.All comments received, as well as areport summarizing each substantivepublic contact with FAA personnelconcerning this proposed rulemaking,will be filed in the docket. The docketis available for public inspection beforeand after the comment closing date.All comments received on or beforethe closing date for comments specifiedwill be considered by the Administrator before taking action on this proposedrulemaking. Comments filed late will beconsidered as far as possible withoutincurring expense or delay. Theproposal contained in this notice may be changed in light of commentsreceived.Commenters wishing the FAA toacknowledge receipt of their commentssubmitted in response to this noticemust include a preaddressed, stampedpostcard on which the followingstatement is made: ‘‘Comments toDocket No. FAA–2000–7554.’’ Thepostcard will be date stamped andmailed to the commenter.
Availability of NPRMs
An electronic copy of this documentmay be downloaded using a modem andsuitable communications software fromthe FAA regulations section of theFedworld electronic bulletin boardservice (telephone: 703–321–3339) orthe Government Printing Office (GPO)’selectronic bulletin board service(telephone: 202–512–1661).Internet users may reach the FAA’sweb page at http://www.faa.gov/avr/arm/nprm/nprm.htm or the GPO’s webpage at http://www.access.gpo.gov/narafor access to recently publishedrulemaking documents.Any person may obtain a copy of thisdocument by submitting a request to theFederal Aviation Administration, Officeof Rulemaking, ARM–1, 800Independence Ave, SW., Washington,DC 20591, or by calling (202) 267–9677.Communications must identify thedocket number of this NPRM.Persons interested in being placed onthe mailing list for future rules shouldrequest from the above office a copy of Advisory Circular No. 11–2A, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking DistributionSystem, which describes the applicationprocedure.
Flight Operational Quality AssuranceProgram Description
The primary purpose of a FlightOperational Quality Assurance Program(FOQA) is the enhancement of airsafety. A FOQA program involves theroutine analysis of flight data generatedduring line operations in order to revealsituations that require corrective actionand to enable early corrective action before problems occur. To institute sucha program, airlines would need todevelop a system that captures flightdata, transforms the data into anappropriate format for analysis, andgenerates reports and visualizations toassist personnel in analyzing the data.The information and insights provided by FOQA programs significantlyenhance line operational safety, trainingeffectiveness, operational procedures,maintenance and engineeringprocedures, ATC procedures, andairport surface issues.Data is collected and aggregated fromnumerous operations. The value of using the aggregate FOQA data greatlyexceeds that of single flight assessmentwhen trying to determine the rootcauses of systemic problems that needto be corrected. Individual data recordsare typically aggregated along variousdimensions (
e.g.,
event category as afunction of aircraft type, phase of flight,and geographical location) to assist theanalyst in looking for trends andpatterns. Aggregation is defined as atransformation process that groups andmathematically combines (
e.g.,
count,total, average, standard deviation)individual data elements based on somecriterion. Each aggregation is based onfactors of interest to the analyst at aparticular point in time. For example,the average approach maximum rate of descent below 2000 feet by airport byfleet type (event category) may be usefulto better understand the data oncecounts of related events indicate thatthis is an area that might be useful tostudy. This analysis may suggest that allfleets are experiencing high descentrates at a certain airport or just a specificaircraft type is involved. This type of information can be used to pinpoint thepotential source of a problem and thenature of the corrective action.
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Under the rule, programparticipations would submit aggregateFOQA data to the FAA. The FAA plansto publish an advisory circular, whichwould provide program participantswith guidance on submissionprocedures. In general, it is envisionedthat aggregate FOQA date would besupplied monthly to the FAA throughsecure electronic means similar to theexisting process for submittingautomated operations specifications.The aggregate data would be reviewed by various organizational elementswithin the FAA to identify trendspertinent to the areas of safety oversightor NAS management for which they areresponsible. In particular, the FAAexpects the principal operationsinspector (POI), his aircrew programmanagers (APMs), the principalmaintenance inspector (PMI) and theprincipal avionics inspector (PAI)would monitor trends to identify areasin need of corrective action, if any; toreview planned strategies for takingcorrective action where warranted; andto verify that such corrective action has been effective. In general, theinformation obtained from aggregateFOQA information would be used toprovide an improved basis for agencydecisions based on objective data fromline operations. Periodic reviews of trends and lessons learned from theFOQA program will help both theairline and FAA inspectors decidewhere to concentrate future safetyefforts.
Background
Since the mid-1940s the civil airtransport accident rate has significantlydecreased. This decrease is due in partto the air transport industry’s practice of discovering, understanding, andeliminating factors that lead to accidentsand incidents. For many years, industry,the FAA, and the NationalTransportation Safety Board (NTSB)have used information from flight datarecorders (FDRs) and digital flight datarecorders (DFDRs) to identify the causesof accidents and to attempt to eliminatethose causes systematically.Airplanes used in operationsconducted under 14 CFR part 121 andcertain types of aircraft used inoperations conducted under parts 91,125, and 135 are required to have flightdata recorders. Any operator who hasinstalled approved flight recorders isrequired to keep the recordedinformation for at least 60 days after anaccident or incident requiringimmediate notification to the NTSB (14CFR 91.609(g), 121.343(i), 125.225(g),and 135.152(e)). The flight data recorderinformation can thus be analyzed todetermine causes of an accident orincident.In the past 10 years, technologicaladvances in cockpit equipment and indata analysis have increased thepotential for obtaining and analyzinginformation on the flight characteristicsof an aircraft during its operation. Thisinformation can be used to determinethe causes of an accident. Moreimportantly, it can also be used toobtain and analyze on a routine basisdata that are recorded in line operationsin order to prevent an accident. Inrecent years, many countries havedeveloped programs to encourage theroutine recordation and analysis of operational data on a voluntary basis.This NPRM is intended to accomplishthe same for the for the United Statesthrough an FAA-approved FOQAprogram. In this NPRM, the term‘‘FOQA program’’ means an FAA-approved program for the routinecollection of in-flight operational data by means of a DFDR and the analysis of that data to discover trends affectingoperational safety. It is hoped that bygathering and analyzing this data, theFAA and the aviation industry will beable to develop corrective actions, toimprove flight crew performance, aircarrier training programs, operatingprocedures, air traffic controlprocedures, airport maintenance anddesign, and aircraft operations anddesign. The key potential safety benefitof FOQA is that the routine analysis of flight data would enable the FAA andaircraft operators to take early action toprevent accidents. This benefit contrastswith the current situation, where theagency and industry rely on after-the-fact accident- or incident-driven dataextraction and analysis used to developsafety fixes to prevent later accidents.Because of its capacity to provide earlyidentification of safety shortcomings,FOQA offers significant potential foraccident avoidance.In 1995, in response to arecommendation of the Flight SafetyFoundation, the FAA sponsored aFOQA Demonstration Study. The FOQADemonstration Study has beenconducted over the past several years incooperation with four major airlines inthe U.S. It has provided substantialdocumentation of the benefits of FOQA.For example, analysis of FOQA data hasindicated that for domestic operations tomajor U.S. cities, the frequency of approaches for which the rate of descentexceeds 1000 feet per minute at 500 feetdescent height is generally much higherthan was realized previously. Analysisfurther determined that there is acorrelation between the frequency of unstable approaches and specific airportlocations. Such information hasimportant implications for airlineprocedures, pilot training, and FAA AirTraffic Control procedures.Dissemination of FOQA information onthis problem to pilots has been effectivein reducing the frequency of suchevents. The data available from theDemonstration Study also provided a basis for the FAA to modify theapproved instrument approachprocedures for one U.S. airport, and toupdate the instrument approachequipment available at one runway.FOQA data also have indicated thatthe manufacturer’s recommendedmaximum speed for a given flap settingin a given aircraft type is exceeded morefrequently than had been realizedpreviously. Although pilots have beenrequired to monitor and report theoccurrence of flap exceedences for manyyears, flight crewmembers can missthem because they can occur for very brief intervals during the busyapproach-to-landing phases of flight.FOQA data have indicated that thereare particular procedures andmaneuvers that warrant increasedemphasis in training. For example,analysis of FOQA data suggests thatmore emphasis on the safe and properexecution of visual approach maneuversis needed. This result is of interest sincethe emphasis in pilot training programspreviously has been primarily on theexecution of instrument approachprocedures. FOQA data indicated,however, that few performanceproblems are occurring with instrumentapproaches. Results from theDemonstration Study at one airline haveindicated that the modification of recurrent training content to betteremphasize the visual approach hasproduced quantifiable improvements inindividual performance on thatmaneuver during line operations.The FOQA program has beenemployed by one U.S. airline to createa database of wake turbulence events,and the information on how to conductanalyses of digital flight data for thatpurpose has been shared with other U.S.airlines.FOQA data also have been used topinpoint runway surface anomalies atU.S. airports. The documentation of these anomalies has been instrumentalin correcting a long-standing problem atone such location.FOQA data have provided a hithertounavailable means of establishing adatabase of TCAS alerts, and of documenting specific aircraft responsesto the occurrence of TCAS events. Thistype of hard data is essential to theintegration of TCAS technology with airtraffic control modernization.
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