[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 142 (Tuesday, July 23, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38240-38242]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-18686]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
[Docket No. 28567]


A Call for the Development of Prototype(s) for a Global Analysis 
and Information Network (GAIN)

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of On-line Question and Answer Session About GAIN on 
CompuServe.

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SUMMARY: On May 10, 1996, the FAA published a request for comments 
about the Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept and 
implementation strategy for collecting and analyzing aviation safety 
data. That request for comments also invited participation in the 
development of proof-of-concept prototypes. The GAIN concept involves 
the international sharing and analyzing of data, technologies, and 
systems that would provide an early warning capability to signal 
increased risks in aviation safety. The comment period closed on July 
19,

[[Page 38241]]

1996, and more than 60 comments were submitted from all over the world.
    This notice announces an opportunity for commenters and others to 
discuss issues and ask questions about GAIN with Christopher A. Hart, 
FAA's Assistant Administrator for System Safety (ASY-1). Mr. Hart will 
serve as the facilitator of a live on-line question and answer session 
on the CompuServe Information Service. In preparation for a workshop to 
be convened by the FAA later this year to bring commenters and others 
together to discuss GAIN and the development of GAIN prototypes, 
commenters are encouraged to review each other's comments and to 
commence discussions with each other about potential joint ventures. By 
clarifying issues that commenters and others may have, this on-line 
question and answer session will hopefully make the workshop, as well 
as the preparatory discussions between commenters, more productive.

DATES: The on-line question and answer session will be held on Tuesday, 
August 6 from 9:00 p.m., EDT (6:00 PDT) to 10:30 p.m., EDT (7:30 PDT) 
on the CompuServe Information Service. Persons without on-line access 
may participate in the session by submitting written questions to the 
FAA, which must be received on or before July 31, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons and organizational representatives with 
CompuServe on-line access may participate in the question and answer 
session by ``Go''ing to the Convention Center, then selecting ``FAA's 
Chris Hart discusses global safety network'' from the menu. Questions 
can also be submitted before the session via electronic mail to 
``[email protected].''
    Interested persons without on-line access may participate in the 
question and answer session by mailing questions to the Federal 
Aviation Administration, Attn: GAIN Program Division, ASY-200, ``On-
Line GAIN Conference,'' 400 7th Street, SW., Room 2227, Washington, DC 
20590.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mr. Charles Fluet, Manager, GAIN Program Division, ASY-200, Office of 
System Safety, Federal Aviation Administration, 400 7th Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 267-GAIN (202-267-4246).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The aviation industry has made remarkable progress in reducing 
aviation accident rates. However, this rate has remained stubbornly 
consistent for about the last 10 years, and at today's accident rate, 
the forecasted growth in air transportation demand could lead to more 
than 4,500 fatalities worldwide per year by 2025--clearly an 
unacceptable result. Yet, all too often, the aviation industry as a 
whole has not been able to use data about accidents, incidents and 
other system anomalies to become aware of existing or emerging safety 
problems in time to take preventive measures. The entire industry must 
develop a significantly improved operational early warning capability 
that is sensitive enough to detect and alert the aviation community to 
existing and emerging problems. A major aspect of this capability is 
the sharing of safety information, both within categories in the 
industry, e.g., carriers must share with other carriers and 
manufacturers with other manufacturers; and across categories, e.g., 
labor, management, carriers, manufacturers, air traffic controllers, 
airport operators, and others must share with each other. Creating 
useful information, however, generally requires the collection of large 
amounts of data, and it also involves the careful analysis of the data. 
Rarely would there be any need or desire to share any raw data, but the 
sharing of the analysis of the data--the information--could be mutually 
beneficial. A new safety information paradigm, with much greater 
sensitivity to anomalies in daily aviation system operations, could 
help the industry reach ``Zero Accidents.'' Gathering and analyzing 
large amounts of qualitative and quantitative aviation safety data to 
better understand routine system operations is the foundations of the 
Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept.
    On May 10, 1996, the FAA published a request for comments on the 
Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept and 
implementation strategy for collecting and analyzing aviation safety 
data. That request also invited participation in the development of 
proof-of-concept prototypes. The proposed GAIN system would be more 
sensitive to conditions that signal increased safety risks because it 
would contain information about normal aviation system operations. The 
statistical baseline for normal aviation operations, constructed with 
digital flight and ATC radar data, among other major and currently 
untapped sources, would be the plumb line from which deviations are 
measured. The importance of obtaining information about a far greater 
percentage of aircraft operations has been illustrated repeatedly by 
all-too-typical accident investigation findings of earlier flights that 
experienced problems similar to the accident aircraft. A truly 
effective early warning capability would involve significant 
improvements in information feedback and analysis for aviation 
operations. When fully implemented, it is believed that GAIN would, at 
a minimum, add the following new elements to the existing monitoring 
systems: (1) new data sources that would improve risk assessment and 
provide a baseline for normal flight operations, thus improving the 
changes of early anomaly detection; (2) new and innovative data 
management and analytical techniques and methodologies that quickly 
reveal obscure and/or infrequent data patterns and associations; and 
(3) new methods to disseminate the findings quickly and globally to all 
who could use them to improve international aviation safety.
    The FAA anticipates that GAIN and its prototypes will be privately 
owned by a consortium of several entities from all over the world, and 
the FAA plans to invite potential participants to a workshop later this 
year to help facilitate the process of developing prototypes. In order 
to encourage prospective participants to discuss potential joint 
ventures with each other before the workshop, the process was set up to 
enable all GAIN commenters to look at each other's comments via the 
Internet.
    The FAA encourages commenters to take maximum advantage of this 
Internet capability and to commence discussions with each other to 
determine how, working together, commenters can begin to develop 
prototypes. The FAA has already received numerous clarifying inquiries 
about GAIN, and commenters and others undoubtedly have more questions. 
The purpose of this on-line question and answer session is to provide a 
forum for these questions to be asked and answered because better 
understanding of GAIN by prospective participants, and better FAA 
understanding of the concerns of prospective participants, will make 
the workshop, as well as the preparatory discussions between 
commenters, much more fruitful.

On-line Session Procedures

    (1) The on-line question and answer session is scheduled to last 90 
minutes, and the FAA will try to accommodate all interested persons and 
organizational representatives. If the available time does not permit 
this, questions will be answered on a first-come-first-served basis. 
Further, the FAA reserves the right to exclude some questions if

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necessary to obtain a balance of viewpoints and issues. The session may 
adjourn early if all interested persons complete their statements and 
have their questions answered in less time than is scheduled.
    (2) Christopher A. Hart, FAA's Assistant Administrator for System 
Safety, will serve as the facilitator of the on-line session. A panel 
of FAA representatives involved in GAIN will be available to answer 
questions and clarify issues.
    (3) A transcript of the on-line discussions will be prepared and 
placed in the public docket at FAA headquarters in Washington, DC, by 
August 12, 1996, for review by interested persons. A copy of the 
transcript will also be made available via CompuServe from the Aviation 
Week Group Information Center Forum library by August 12, 1996.
    (4) Statements made by FAA representatives are intended to 
facilitate discussion of, and clarify, the issues and to answer 
questions. Any statements made during the on-line session by FAA 
representatives are the individual views of those representatives and 
do not necessarily represent the views of the FAA.
    (5) The on-line session is designed to solicit views and clarify 
issues about the GAIN concept. Therefore, the session will be conducted 
in an informal and non-adversarial manner. No individual will be 
subject to cross-examination by any other participant; however, FAA 
representatives may ask clarifying questions to ensure a more complete 
and useful record.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on July 18, 1996.
Christopher A. Hart,
Assistant Administrator for System Safety, Federal Aviation 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-18686 Filed 7-22-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-M