Safety
The Record
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigates U.S. transportation industry accidents. It also publishes transportation safety statistics. As part of its accident investigation function, NTSB gathers facts about the accident and seeks to determine the reasons for it. If appropriate, it can also make safety improvement recommendations to regulatory bodies, for example, the FAA.
NTSB statistics show that the U.S. airlines' safety record has improved steadily through the years, most notably the years since deregulation. From 2000-2005, U.S. airlines averaged .230 fatal accidents per billion aircraft miles flown. This compares with 1.984 fatal accidents per billion miles flown in 1978, the year that Congress enacted the legislation to deregulate rates and routes.
The airline safety record also compares very favorably with many other everyday activities. Since 1938, when the government began keeping records of aviation accidents, the very worst year for airline fatalities was 1974, with 460 deaths recorded. By contrast, more than 40,000 people die each year in highway accidents. Sadly, in a typical three-month period, more people die on the nation's highways than have died in all airline accidents since the advent of commercial aviation. According to the National Safety Council, which publishes an annual report on accidental deaths in the United States and measures passenger deaths per 100 million passenger miles, airlines are consistently the safest mode of intercity travel, followed by bus, rail and the automobile.
The Government's Safety Role
The federal government plays an important role in assuring the safety of air travel. It has done so since the enactment of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, and it continues to play a leading role in aviation safety today. Although the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 ended virtually all domestic economic regulation of the airlines, it did not end government regulation of safety. All safety requirements and programs in place at that time remain in force, and many new regulations have been added.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
The primary responsibility for airline safety regulation lies with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Congress transferred the FAA agency to the Department of Transportation when it created the department in 1966. It is the successor to the Federal Aviation Agency, an independent agency created by the Federal Aviation Act of 1958.
The FAA is also responsible for developing, maintaining and operating the nation's Air Traffic Control (ATC) system, which is described in Chapter 9. Nearly three-fourths of the FAA's almost 50,000 employees are involved in some aspect of ATC. Their mission is to ensure the safe separation of aircraft during flight and to safely sequence aircraft for taxiing, takeoff and landing.
FAA's other major safety functions include reviewing the design, manufacture and maintenance of aircraft, setting minimum standards for crew training, establishing operational requirements for airlines and airports, and conducting safety-related research and development. In short, it sets the minimum safety standards for the airlines and acts as the public's watchdog for safety.
Federal law requires that all civil aircraft operating in the United States be certified as airworthy by the FAA. There are well over 200,000 licensed civil aircraft in the United States, the vast majority of them privately owned general-aviation aircraft (small planes used primarily for pleasure flying, training, corporate travel and agricultural purposes such as crop-dusting).
The FAA certification process begins with the design of an aircraft. FAA aeronautical engineers participate in the design process and oversee the construction and flight testing of the prototype. If all tests are successfully completed, FAA issues a type certificate for the new aircraft, followed by a production certificate, once FAA is satisfied that the manufacturer has everything in place to properly duplicate the prototype.
The final step in aircraft certification is the issuance of an airworthiness certificate, which essentially is the FAA stamp of approval for each aircraft coming off the assembly line. It attests to the fact that the plane has been properly built, according to an approved design, and that it is safe for commercial service.
The FAA requires that all commercial transport aircraft be designed with built-in redundancies, so they can continue to fly even when a structural element fails. For example, there is more than one way to lower the landing gear, more than one way to communicate with the ground and more than one way to control the aircraft.
If design problems are discovered after a plane is in service and found to jeopardize safe operations, they are addressed through airworthiness directives, or ADs. Through these directives, the FAA informs all operators of the aircraft or engine type of the repairs or modifications needed to correct the problem. Usually ADs are written in consultation with the manufacturer but, unlike manufacturer-generated service bulletins, ADs carry the force of law. If a problem poses an immediate safety hazard, the FAA will direct the airlines to complete the work quickly, sometimes even before further flight. In most situations, however, there is no immediate safety hazard and the airlines are given a specified amount of time to complete the ADs.
Operating Certificates
Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) require FAA certification of all airline companies, as well as the equipment they use. Every airline therefore is issued an operating certificate by the FAA. FARs spell out the operating requirements for engaging in large-plane service. The Department of Transportation mandates that financial, insurance and citizenship requirements be met before it issues the airline a second, separate certificate known as the certificate of public convenience and necessity.
Among other things, a commercial operator must have FAA-approved training and maintenance programs and comply with airworthiness certificates for each aircraft. The maintenance program must specify the intervals at which certain aircraft and engine parts will be inspected and, in some cases, replaced. In addition, the maintenance shops the airline intends to use (both its own shops and those of contractors) must be certified by FAA and open to inspection, on demand. Records of all maintenance work must be kept and also must be open to FAA inspection. Other requirements address such things as:
- the equipment a carrier must have aboard each aircraft
- flammability standards for cabin materials
- floor lighting for emergency evacuation
- onboard no smoking rules
- the number of flight attendants that must be aboard
- the content of preflight announcements
- rules for carry-on baggage
- the use of personal electronic devices
- security procedures
- aircraft de-icing procedures
Certification of Airline Personnel
As with aircraft and airlines, certain people who work on, fly or manage airplanes must be personally licensed by the FAA and have minimum levels of training and experience. These certification requirements apply to aircraft mechanics, pilots, flight engineers, aircraft dispatchers and the FAA's own air traffic controllers. The schools where these aviation professionals get their training, as well as the teachers in those schools, also require an FAA license.
Pilots in command of large aircraft must have a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight time. They must pass a written exam testing their knowledge of aircraft operations, meteorology, navigation, radio communication and other subjects important to operating aircraft in commercial service. They must demonstrate their flying skills to an FAA examiner (or FAA-designated examiner), performing various types of takeoffs and landings, in-flight maneuvers and emergency procedures, either in an airplane or a simulator. They also must pass a medical exam, both prior to employment and every year after being hired. Recurrent training also is required. The FAA Flight Standards Service establishes all training and operating requirements for the airlines.
The FAA also regulates airports, although to a lesser extent than pilots, airlines and aircraft. It was empowered to do so by the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970, which sought to promote the development of new aviation infrastructure. The act states that all airports with commercial service must be certified by the FAA and that certification will be granted only if the airport complies with certain safety criteria set by the FAA. Among those criteria are the number and type of fire-fighting vehicles at the airport, runway lighting and storage facilities for fuel.
The FAA also issues advisory circulars to airport operators on such topics as runway paving, environmental matters, drainage and apron design, and provides grants for airport projects that enhance safety and increase the capacity and efficiency of the airport.
Industry Programs
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
The NTSB, mentioned earlier, is responsible for investigating all U.S. transportation accidents, including all civil aviation accidents. Congress created the board under the same legislation that created the Department of Transportation in 1967. Prior to that time, the Civil Aeronautics Board handled accident investigations.
Initially, the five-member NTSB was an autonomous agency within the DOT, which was used for administrative support only. It became a completely independent federal agency, outside the DOT, through the 1974 Transportation Act. The president appoints the members of the board, with confirmation by the Senate. Terms of service are five years. The board chairman and vice chairman are appointed from among the members and serve terms of two years each.
NTSB investigations have two goals – to determine the cause of an accident and to serve as the basis for recommendations that enhance safety. The board does not have the authority to impose new aviation regulations. Only the FAA has that power. Many of the board's recommendations through the years, however, have been implemented as new regulations and are always carefully examined by the FAA, as well as the aviation sector.
When an airline accident occurs, the board dispatches a “go team” of experts in various phases of accident investigations. The teams typically consist of one member of the board and specialists in air traffic control, aircraft maintenance, aircraft operations and someone trained in witness interrogation. The team spends whatever time is necessary at the crash scene. Attention then shifts to the NTSB laboratory where, among other things, the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder (called black boxes, though orange in color) are analyzed. The cockpit voice recorder continuously records the last 30 (or 120 for newer versions) minutes of cockpit conversation, both in the cockpit and between the cockpit and people in other aircraft, or on the ground. The flight data recorder maintains a continuous record of an aircraft's operating parameters, including altitude, speed and the position of key controls.
Typically, the NTSB holds a public hearing to collect additional information through witness testimony and various aviation experts. Hearings also permit the board to raise safety issues publicly. A final report, stating the probable cause of the accident, is presented to the full board at a public meeting, also called a Sunshine Hearing, in Washington, D.C. This normally occurs several months after the accident. However, safety recommendations stemming from the accident sometimes precede the final report. Completion of a major accident investigation can take years.
The airlines long have practiced a sophisticated and comprehensive form of preventive medicine when it comes to maintenance. The nature of the airline industry leaves no choice but to ensure that essential equipment is in good working order before an aircraft goes into service.
Every airline has a maintenance program for each type of aircraft it operates. The programs are developed jointly with the manufacturers of the equipment and, as mentioned earlier, must be approved by the FAA. Each involves a series of increasingly complex inspection and maintenance steps pegged to an aircraft's flying time, calendar time, or number of landings and takeoffs. With each step, maintenance personnel probe the aircraft, taking apart more and more components for closer inspection. Among the many inspection and maintenance procedures, a typical program involves:
- a visual "walk around" inspection of an aircraft's exterior, several times each day, to look for leaks, worn tires, cracks, dents and other surface damage; important systems inside the airplane also are checked
- an inspection, every three to five days, of the aircraft's landing gear, control surfaces such as flaps and rudders, fluid levels, oxygen systems, lighting and auxiliary power systems
- an inspection, every six to nine months, of all of the above, plus internal control systems, hydraulic systems, and cockpit and cabin emergency equipment
- a check, every 12-17 months, during which aircraft are opened up extensively, so inspectors can use sophisticated devices to look for wear, corrosion and cracks invisible to the human eye
- a major check, every three and a half to five years, in which aircraft are essentially taken apart and put back together, with landing gear and many other components replaced
In between these scheduled maintenance checks, computers onboard the aircraft monitor the performance of aircraft systems and record such things as abnormal temperatures and fuel consumption. In the newest aircraft, this information is even transmitted to ground stations while the plane is in flight. Some of the major U.S. airlines have extensive maintenance facilities and do much of their own maintenance work. Others contract maintenance functions to expert maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations (MROs), also known as repair stations. These may be located in the United States or abroad, but in either case are FAA-approved under FAR Part 145. Regardless of who performs the work, or where that work is done, the airline itself retains ultimate responsibility for the quality of the work.
The airlines also have ultimate responsibility for all of the parts they buy. To ensure that parts meet original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specifications, airlines have adopted rigorous purchasing procedures and quality-control programs.
Aircraft manufacturers provide considerable product support to their airline customers. In effect, the manufacturers stand behind each of their aircraft for as long as they are in service. If a problem develops, it is immediately reported to the manufacturer, which in turn, alerts other owners of the aircraft model through service bulletins about the problem and the corrective course of action.
The FAA also receives the bulletins, and if the problem poses a serious safety hazard, it converts the bulletin into an AD – mandating inspections, modifications, repairs or other steps that are necessary to maintain safety. The FAA permits airlines to operate aircraft temporarily with certain items inoperative. The minimum equipment list (MEL) details which items may be inoperative during revenue flights. Airlines are given a specified period of time to repair or replace these items. They are not permitted to postpone repairs that relate to the safe operation of the aircraft. Items affecting safety or airworthiness must be repaired prior to further flight.
Training
Airline employees in general receive an extensive amount of training, but especially those who work aboard the aircraft and whose performance directly affects safety.
Pilots are among the most highly trained individuals in any field. Applicants for employment with a major airline must go through several steps just to get into a training program, then several more steps before they actually begin to fly.
Although airline hiring procedures may differ, those accepted for an interview are judged by many of the same criteria used to judge applicants for any job, including experience and professionalism. The second step is a screening process involving psychological and aptitude tests and a stringent medical examination. Step three usually is a test in a flight simulator that evaluates an applicant's flying skills. Between 10 and 15 percent of an airline's applicants typically make it through this process to gain acceptance to an airline's training program.
Programs vary, but as mentioned, all must meet certain standards established by the FAA, and all must be approved individually by the FAA. Proficiency is the common goal of today's training programs. In many areas, the FAA and the airlines no longer require a set number of hours of training at various tasks as they did in the past. Instead, they require whatever training is necessary for trainees to become proficient at the required tasks. The process recognizes the fact that applicants with different prior experiences enter training programs with different skills and abilities.
The airlines use various training methods, depending on subject matter. The methods include classroom instruction, training in simulators, hands-on equipment training, and the use of self-pacing, self-testing, computerized video presentations. In all cases, the training exercises conclude with exams, drills or flight checks to ensure understanding and competence.
Airline pilots and flight engineers also are required to complete certain recurrent training each year. Normally, recurrent training is done in an advanced simulator and takes two to four days, depending on the type of airplane the pilot operates. Pilots in command, or captains, must complete some elements of recurrent training every six months.
Collaborative Efforts
Government and industry officials commonly work together to address recognized safety problems, usually through committees or task forces comprising representatives of equipment manufacturers, airlines, pilots, mechanics, the FAA and NASA. The Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) is an example of effective collaboration across the industry.
Recent initiatives that require broad industry collaboration include:
Following a highly unusual fuselage structural failure, a major effort was undertaken to re-examine and revise maintenance and modification procedures for older aircraft. Now, as aircraft age, many components are automatically replaced at specified intervals, well ahead of the time they would be expected to fail.
Collision Avoidance
Years of joint research between government and industry resulted in the development and deployment of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which warns pilots when aircraft are getting too close and tells them what they should do to maintain adequate separation. TCAS is now in all commercial jets with 10 or more seats.
As with TCAS, government and industry jointly developed warning devices for aircraft that alert pilots to wind-shear conditions so they can take appropriate action to avoid these dangerous downdrafts of air.
De-icing
Following an accident attributed to ice on the wings of the aircraft (a condition that disrupts airflow over the wings and makes it difficult for aircraft to fly), government and industry officials developed and implemented new procedures for pilots to follow in icy conditions. After de-icing (a process in which a fluid that melts and repels ice is sprayed on an aircraft exterior), pilots have a specific amount of time to take off, depending on weather conditions, and the aircraft must be de-iced again if it exceeds the allotted time.
Flammability
In a series of steps, airlines and government officials have upgraded aircraft interiors with more fire-resistant materials for seats, cabin sidewalls, overhead bins and other cabin and cargo bay materials.
Recognizing that most accidents are caused by human error, industry and government alike have focused resources, in recent years, on studying human-factor issues. While ongoing, these efforts already have produced improvements in training and in the management of tasks in the cockpit.
Wildlife Impact Damage
It is estimated that wildlife damage, principally but not exclusively due to bird strikes, may cost the U.S. airline industry more than $300 million per year. Starting in the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services) Wildlife Services Division and the FAA (Airports Division) wildlife biologists cooperated to maintain a Web-based National Wildlife Aircraft Strike Database. The two government agencies utilize the contract services of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to archive voluntary reports received on FAA Form 5200-7. Ideally, timely reporting by pilots, mechanics, ground-services personnel, station management personnel, safety investigators and airport wildlife biologists can be matched to a small sample of bird remains mailed to the Smithsonian Institution Feather Identification Laboratory in Washington, D.C. This can lead to valuable information that will help airports refine their Wildlife Management Plans required for certification by FAR Part 139. This can result in effective control measures that deal with attractants, habitat, migration patterns and detection and dispersal technologies.
Safety Management Systems (SMS)
The airline industry has adopted the concept of a “systems safety” approach to minimize incidents and accidents within the commercial aviation industry. SMS theory invokes a “continuous improvement process” in which hazards are identified, a risk assessment is accomplished, mitigation strategies are optimized and effectiveness of the mitigation is measured. SMS is an overarching philosophy under which all functions of airline management take an active role in contributing toward safety awareness, education, cost justification, resource allocation and conservation, product reliability and overall performance. SMS can be viewed as an umbrella under which other safety programs (Air Transportation Oversight System, Flight Operations Quality Assurance, Aviation Safety Action Programs, Internal Evaluation Programs, Voluntary Disclosure Programs, Continuing Airworthiness Systems, Maintenance Reliability Review Boards, Quality Assurance, etc.) can be integrated to provide a continuous picture of the safety “health” of an air carrier. In this manner, executive oversight can be focused on detecting problems and putting solutions in place before they become detrimental to the safe and efficient operation of the carrier.
Future Safety Efforts
While safety efforts have historically focused on understanding the causes of accidents and preventing their recurrence, future efforts will attempt to identify risks before they result in an accident. Recognizing risks to safety is difficult and requires a variety of detailed and potentially sensitive information to be integrated and analyzed. This approach enables the industry and regulators to concentrate safety resources on mitigating risks before they manifest as accidents.
Although the FAA is charged with the responsibility of setting and enforcing minimum safety standards, the ultimate and primary responsibility for safety rests with the airlines. The Federal Aviation Act that established the FAA's predecessor agency stated that every license holder assumes "private sector responsibilities for maintaining the highest degree of safety." Of course, it also makes good business sense for the airlines to do everything they can to ensure safety. To airlines, safety is the top priority, and every year they work jointly through the Air Transport Association on an agenda of safety-related programs.
Chapter 5
Chapter 7