FAA Takes Immediate Safety Steps Following General and Business Aviation Call to Action

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is taking immediate action on key safety issues identified during Thursday’s General and Business Aviation Call to Action.

The agency will communicate reminders to pilots through various outlets the importance of:

The FAA also will:

• Initiate a safety-risk analysis of close encounters between pilots flying visually and pilots flying under air traffic control.
• Increase FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) outreach on radio communication phraseology, NOTAMs and operations in and around highly controlled Class B airspace.
• Continue to work with Part 135 and air tour operators to implement mandatory Safety Management Systems (SMS) to meet the implementation dates in Part 5. 
• Explore additional tools for pilots to assess operational risk and their own performance. 

Additionally, starting at next week’s General Aviation Joint Safety Committee meeting, the FAA will collaborate with industry groups to discuss additional safety actions raised during the Call to Action to develop a plan that can make general aviation and business aviation safer.  

“Safety is a collective effort that requires constant, proactive collaboration among all stakeholders,” said Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau. “Complacency is the enemy of safety and we need to be vigilant to address emerging risks before they become problems.”

The FAA held the Call to Action to identify concrete steps to address recent safety incidents and make general and business aviation safer. More than two dozen FAA, industry and labor leaders attended the event at the agency’s headquarters building. Sessions addressed three topics. Ideas that emerged included: 

VFR/IFR Interactions (where pilots flying visually and pilots flying under air traffic control operate in the same airspace)

• Examine methods to allow VFR aircraft to safely fly near and through highly controlled Class B airspace. 
• Continue the installation of aircraft-tracking technology in control towers.  
• VFR pilots could broadcast a specific code on their transponders and monitor a specific radio frequency around airports with a mix of VFR and IFR traffic. This helps air traffic controllers to keep these types of operations safely away from each other.

Safety Drift (the gradual deviation from established safety procedures and best practices)

• A common thread in aviation accidents is Acceptance, Boredom and Complacency (ABC). Emphasize paying attention to details, especially use of checklists.
• The incorporation of scenario-based training could add to GA pilots’ training. 
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) could play a role helping a pilot conduct a risk assessment before flying.  

Safety Management

• Safety management is a formalized decision-making process that prioritizes safety.
• Safety management can be scalable to all types of aviation operations. 
• Safety management occurs within individual operations and across industry segments. 
• Continued work with stakeholders to implement SMS to address and reduce risk in their operations and the National Airspace System is important for all of industry.

Thursday’s Call to Action will kick-start even greater safety collaboration between the FAA and general and business aviation communities. It will build on existing partnerships such as the GAJSC and the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) database.

Session moderators included senior FAA leaders and Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA); Sean Elliott, vice president of Advocacy and Safety for the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA); and Jenny Ann Urban, managing director of Air Charter and Maintenance for the National Air Transportation Association (NATA).