[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 60 (Friday, March 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17638-17639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06960]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing Project 
Demonstration for General Aviation (ASIAS for GA Project Demo)

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: General statement of policy.

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SUMMARY: This document announces a one-year program to demonstrate the 
capabilities of Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing 
(ASIAS) for the general aviation community. The document also states 
the FAA's policy concerning enforcement during this demonstration 
program.

DATES: This Notice becomes effective on March 28, 2014. The ASIAS for 
GA Project Demo expires one year after the date of publication of this 
notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Corey Stephens, Federal Aviation 
Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591; 
Telephone: (202) 493-4258 and [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In recent years, the General Aviation (GA) community has 
experienced little to no decrease in the number of fatal accidents over 
the last five years. As a result, the Administrator has identified the 
implementation of initiatives aimed at reducing GA fatal accidents as a 
high priority. These initiatives include the work of the General 
Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GA JSC) and bringing GA operations 
into ASIAS.

Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS)

    To promote an open exchange of safety information for the 
continuous improvement of aviation safety, the FAA and the aviation 
industry working in partnership developed ASIAS. ASIAS is a 
collaborative information sharing program supported by the aviation 
community to facilitate the proactive analysis of data from broad and 
extensive sources for purposes of advancing safety initiatives and 
discovering vulnerabilities in the air transportation system. The 
sources of safety data range from public sector data that the FAA 
collects to proprietary data that ASIAS participants voluntarily 
submit. ASIAS enables the aviation community and the FAA to jointly 
view different data sources and analyze the aggregate data. This allows 
ASIAS participants to further analyze their own data and make 
comparisons to industry norms. ASIAS benefits the FAA and the aviation 
industry by enabling them to analyze and track accident precursors and 
known safety hazards and to identify and track newly identified 
operational risks.
    The ASIAS community consists of the FAA and private sector 
organizations such as corporate operators, airlines, manufacturers and 
pilot associations. ASIAS participants currently provide de-identified 
digital flight data and/or de-identified safety reports to ASIAS under 
various agreements.
    ASIAS is managed by a group of government and aviation industry 
representatives through the ASIAS Executive Board (AEB). The AEB 
oversees the ASIAS program, including policy and process development, 
and approves all studies undertaken by ASIAS. The AEB established and 
tasked a subcommittee known as the Issue Analysis Team (IAT) to perform 
detailed analyses and effectiveness monitoring of specific safety 
issues using aggregated

[[Page 17639]]

ASIAS data. The IAT submits de-identified study results to the AEB, and 
the AEB determines how best to disseminate the results to the 
appropriate stakeholders, including the GA JSC.

ASIAS for General Aviation

    The GA JSC is reaching out to the GA community directly and through 
several GA associations to educate pilots and other stakeholders on the 
benefits of sharing collected safety data with ASIAS in a protected 
non-punitive manner, in a manner similar to programs for commercial 
aviation. In addition, the GA JSC continues its work to maximize safety 
in GA operations. For example, to date, it has proposed 26 safety 
interventions to address loss of control. However, analysis shows that 
more comprehensive data sources from the GA community resulting from a 
GA ASIAS data sharing program would improve understanding of 
contributing factors to safety risks in the system.
    Early in 2014, the steering committee will embark on a 
demonstration to evaluate the value and benefits of ASIAS for the 
broader GA community. One of the purposes of the demonstration will be 
to allow the GA JSC to gain a better understanding of safety risks and 
emerging threats for the GA community. The project will explore 
potential new information sources such as General Aviation flight data 
(recorded through avionics suites, data recorders and new common 
technologies such as iOS and Android devices), voluntary safety 
reports, and manufacturer reports.

ASIAS for GA Demonstration Project

    The Administrator announced the GA ASIAS Demonstration Project at 
the General Aviation Summit at FAA Headquarters on January 27, 2014. 
The purpose of this demonstration project is to test the technical 
ability to bring GA data into ASIAS. This project will also demonstrate 
the value of ASIAS to the GA pilot community and industry 
(associations, manufacturers, instructors, type clubs, etc.).
    To fully demonstrate the ASIAS capabilities for GA, ASIAS needs to 
collect safety information from voluntary safety reporting systems 
(digital flight data from Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA)/
Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) programs, pilot and other safety reports, 
etc.).
    As part of the GA ASIAS Demonstration Project, pilots who 
voluntarily submit their flight data will do so through the National 
General Aviation Flight Information Database (NGAFID) which is 
maintained by the University of North Dakota. Pilots who submit their 
data will be able to review information for their own flights through 
the NGAFID; however, a pilot may not access another pilot's data. 
Additionally, the FAA will not have access to this data while it 
contains information identifying a pilot.
    De-identified data will be regularly transferred to ASIAS. In this 
de-identified state, the data cannot be linked to the specific pilot, 
aircraft, or flight. This de-identified data is then aggregated and 
used by the ASIAS community for safety purposes only.
    For the period of this project, data will be collected voluntarily 
from the GA community in the area surrounding Phoenix, Arizona. 
Volunteers who are based within a 40 nautical mile ring surrounding 
KPHX will be sought to participate in the demonstration project. 
Additional information can also be found at www.GAJSC.org.

Enforcement Policy

    The ASIAS for GA Demonstration Project is an important safety 
initiative and the FAA supports and encourages wide participation. This 
document is issued in order to alleviate any concerns that any 
voluntarily submitted data may be used for enforcement purposes. The 
FAA recognizes that it is important to promote the voluntary submittal 
of data during the demonstration project. Therefore, none of the data 
that is being collected during this demonstration project will be 
accessed or otherwise used for any enforcement activities.
    Should an accident or incident occur involving a participant or 
non-participant in the demonstration project, standard FAA policy for 
accident or incident investigation will apply. Any data collected will 
derive solely from routine investigation procedures. No data that is 
voluntarily submitted in connection with the demonstration project will 
be accessed for an accident or incident investigation.
    The ASIAS for GA Demonstration Project will be in effect for one 
year beginning on the date of publication of this notice.

    Dated: Issued in Washington, DC on March 21, 2014.
Michael G. Whitaker,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2014-06960 Filed 3-27-14; 8:45 am]
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