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FAA Safety Briefing - Jan-Feb 2024
Reproduced for study. Always verify against the official GACAR at gaca.gov.sa.
January/February 2024
A JUST CULTURE
for Safety
6 Understanding
Compliance Program –
One Bite at a Time 17 Sharing is Caring –
How Voluntary
Reporting Programs
Benefit Everyone20 New Y ear, New (Safer)
Operations – A Closer Look at Personal SMS Federal Aviation
Administration
2 FAA Safety BriefingU.S. Department
of Transportation
Federal Aviation
Administration
ISSN: 1057-9648
FAA Safety Briefing
January/February 2024
Volume 63/Number 1
Pete Buttigieg Secretary of Transportation
Michael Whitaker Administrator
David Boulter Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety
Larry Fields Executive Director, Flight Standards ServiceTom Hoffmann Editor
James Williams Associate Editor / Photo Editor
Rebekah Waters Associate Editor
Nicole Hartman Associate Editor
Paul Cianciolo Associate Editor / Social Media
Jamie Harvey Art Director
Published six times a year, FAA Safety Briefing, formerly
FAA Aviation News, promotes aviation safety by discussing current technical,
regulatory, and procedural aspects affecting the safe operation and
maintenance of aircraft. Although based on current FAA policy and rule interpretations, all material is advisory or informational in nature and should not be construed to have regulatory effect. Certain details of accidents
described herein may have been altered to protect the privacy of those involved.
The FAA does not officially endorse any goods, services, materials, or products of
manufacturers that may be referred to in an article. All brands, product names,
company names, trademarks, and service marks are the properties of their
respective owners. All rights reserved.
The Office of Management and Budget has approved the use
of public funds for printing FAA Safety Briefing.ABOUT THIS ISSUE…
The January/February 2024 issue of
FAA Safety Briefing focuses on the FAA’s Compliance Program and how its foundational concepts have helped advance a “just culture” within the general aviation community.
Contact Information
The magazine is available on the internet at:
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The FAA Safety Policy Voice of Non-commercial General Aviation
6Understanding the Compliance Program
A Bite at a Time
11Measuring SuccessDive into Compliance Program Data
14Drone Safety and the Compliance ProgramCreating a Just Safety Culture for
All Pilots
January/February 2024 117 Sharing is Caring
How Voluntary Reporting Programs
Benefit Everyone
20 New Year, New (Safer) Operations
A Closer Look at Personal SMS
DEPARTMENTS
2 Jumpseat: an executive policy
perspective
3 ATIS: GA news and current events
5 Aeromedical Advisory: a checkup on
all things aeromedical
23 Checklist: FAA resources and
safety reminders
24 Drone Debrief: drone safety roundup
25 Nuts , Bolts, and Electrons:
GA maintenance issues
26 Vertically Speaking: safety issues for
rotorcraft pilots
27 Flight Forum: letters from the
Safety Briefing mailbag
28 O n Final: an editor's perspective
Inside back cover
FAA Faces: FAA employee profile
2 FAA Safety Briefing
JUMPSEATan executive policy perspective
LARRY FIELDS, FLIGHT STANDARDS SERVICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
A JUST CULTURE FOR SAFETY
Back in 2015, the FAA launched a
unique program that would rep-
resent a major cultural change in
how the agency goes about ensuring
regulatory compliance. Dubbed the
Compliance Philosophy (and later renamed Compliance Program), it
helped the FAA achieve effective,
quick, and efficient corrections to aviation safety issues resulting from
deviations from standards (faa.gov/
about/initiatives/cp). Nine years later,
the program has been a great success,
helping to build a just culture within the aviation community and enabling
airmen to take an active role in
addressing safety concerns. Y et, many airmen are still unfamiliar with the
Compliance Program and the many
benefits it brings to all National
Airspace System (NAS) users.
This issue of FAA Safety Briefing
acquaints you with this program, reinforces its importance, and demon-
strates its effectiveness in the industry.
For example, what might have once
required the use of an enforcement action for a pilot deviation may now
involve training, education, or coun-
seling — a compliance action — to resolve. The FAA recognizes that some
deviations are caused by a simple mistake or could stem from a lack of
training, a lack of knowledge, dimin-
ished skills, or procedures that are not
working as they should. A compliance
action is a more effective way of cor -
recting the issue and preventing reoc-
currence. In fact, since October 2015,
the agency has taken more than 44,000
compliance actions to identify the root cause of a safety issue and correct it at
the most effective and efficient level.
That doesn’t mean the FAA still
doesn’t rely on enforcement actions
(like certificate action) when war -
ranted. However, it does show a trend
toward a solution that relies more on
cooperation and collaboration than punitive measures.
Another key benefit has been the
uptick in activity with voluntary
reporting programs that are available.
These include the Aviation Safety Action Program (faa.gov/about/
initiatives/asap) and the Aviation
Safety Reporting System or “NASA
report” (asrs.arc.nasa.gov), among
others. In the past, airmen may not have always been as forthcoming with
critical safety information, so this
represents a huge step towards getting the big picture with aviation safety.
We’ll cover more about these criti-
cal programs in this issue and the mutual
benefits they provide to both the regulators
and the regulated.
And since they
share the same airspace with tradi-
tional aviators, the
Compliance Program
also applies to our ever-expanding cadre
of recreational and
part 107 drone flyers. We cover some of the nuances of drone flying in this issue and the
impact the Compliance Program is
having on that industry.
It’s worth noting that while the
Compliance Program has its origins in the Flight Standards Service, the
program’s strategic safety oversight
approach has been adopted by several other FAA services and offices,
including the Aircraft Certification
Service, the Office of Aerospace
Medicine, the Air Traffic Safety
Oversight Service, the Office of Airports, the Office of Commercial
Space Transportation, the Office of
Hazardous Materials Safety, and the Office of National Security Programs
and Incident Response. These services
and offices have continued to work
together, in conjunction with the
Office of the Chief Counsel, to meet the challenges of today’s constantly
evolving NAS, as evidenced by the
most recent update to FAA Order
8000.373C (bit.ly/FAA-CP-Order).
Finally, I’ d like to thank the FAA ’s
Safety and Compliance team who contributed greatly to this issue and
whose steadfast commitment and support of the Compliance Program
has helped it become a game-changer
toward advancing NAS safety and
being a global leader for excellence.
While the Compliance Program
has required a new mindset for the FAA and the aviation community, its
principles remain focused on the idea
that compliance is the foremost factor in safety. With this program, the FAA
can be more adept at achieving a rapid
return to compliance, mitigating risk, and ensuring positive and permanent
changes that benefit the entire avia-
tion industry.
Safe flying!
AVIATION NEWS ROUNDUP
FAASTeam Offers New Human
Factors Training Courses
Human error is both universal and
inevitable. Everyone will make a
mistake sooner or later and many
accidents are directly linked to human error, but what can you do
to minimize the risk? The study of
human factors applies knowledge of
the human body and mind to better
understand human capabilities and limitations. With this knowledge we
can design training, hardware, and
software that leverages our strengths and compensates for
our weaknesses.
Based on the
Australian Civil Aviation
Safety Authority’s Safety Behaviors - Human Factors
for Pilots, nine new Human
Factors courses are avail-
able on FAASafety.gov .
The course modules focus
on safety culture, human
performance, communica-
tion, teamwork, situational awareness, decision making,
threat and error management,
human information process-
ing, and design and automa-
tion. The courses are eligible for credit in the WINGS Pilot
Proficiency Program. Many are familiar with the “acci-
dent chain” — a series of circum-stances, events, and decisions that
lead to an accident. Login today and
complete your training to learn how
to “break a link in the chain” and prevent an accident.
From the Flight Deck Publishes
Additional “Pilot Handbook”
Content
New safety information products
for pilots are now available online.
The FAA ’s From the Flight Deck video series has published “Pilot Handbooks” for 40 airports across
the U.S., with new locations added
regularly. The handbooks were
developed specifically for pilots
to both highlight and supplement airport diagrams, hot spots, and other
potential surface safety issues. Each
pilot handbook contains information local controllers want pilots to know,
airport communications, airspace
details, general best practices, lost
communications tips, and other pre-
flight planning resources.
Check out faa.gov/flight_deck to use
the interactive map and find the
Pilot Handbooks
currently available.
This content is also accessible through
the ForeFlight
app which allows
you to save the handbooks for
the airports you
plan to use and
provides links to
the FAA ’s From the Flight Deck videos
to see actual airport
footage and other
safety-sensitive
information.
#FLYSAFE GA SAFETY ENHANCEMENT TOPICS Please visit bit.ly/FlySafeMedium for more information on these and other topics.
JANUARY
Introduction to
Human Factors –
why human factors and
safety culture are important considerations for pilots.
FEBRUARY
Advanced Preflight –
how to incorporate a more detailed approach to your preflight inspection.
January/February 2024 3
ATISGA news and current events
4 FAA Safety Briefing
ATIS GA news and current events
New NOAA Weather Site
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched an overhauled online weather
resource. For decades, aviationweather.
gov has been helping pilots supplement their weather information, providing
access to TAFs and METARs and pro-
viding graphical forecasts.
The new site presents a cleaner
appearance than the legacy site and features more interactive maps, static
images to embed in briefing material,
and a dark mode. Users can select the most recent weather or view the previous
48 hours, customize their map displays
to show raw or decoded data, and save
searches using the “remember” feature.
The updated site merges the legacy
Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) tool into the same
framework as the Graphical Forecasts
for Aviation while keeping its focus
on low-altitude flight. All previous displays and tools are still available on
the updated site and it's easily view-
able on your phone or tablet.
Updated List of
Cold Temperature Airports
The FAA released an updated list
of cold temperature airports, effec-tive Aug. 11, 2023 to Sept. 5, 2024,
at which pilots must apply altitude
corrections on certain segments of
instrument approaches when the
outside air temperature drops below a published limitation.
Cold temperature airport proce-
dures are detailed in Chapter 7, Section 3 of the Aeronautical Information
Manual ( bit.ly/3u0YjKz) and their air -
ports are published at bit.ly/47HR5cY (PDF). Airports
in 31 states are
included, along
with the associated
temperature restric-
tion, and which part of the affected
approach, initial,
intermediate, final, or missed approach
segment requires an
altitude correction. ATC is not respon-sible for making any altitude correc-
tions and/or advising pilots that an altitude correction is required at a cold
temperature airport; pilots must make
the altitude correction on their own and report the correction to ATC if it
occurs on the intermediate or missed
approach segment.
$201M in Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law Lights the Way to Improve
Runway Safety
More than $201 million in President
Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
funding will go to airfield lighting systems at 82 airports. The projects
will purchase and install new light-
ing for runways and taxiways to keep operations safe during reduced and
low visibility and night conditions. The
recent projects announced include:
• Boeing Field/King County International in Seattle, Wash.:
$2.6 million to install elevated
runway guard lights for Runway
14R/32L to enhance safety.
• Dickinson/Theodore Roosevelt
Regional Airport in North
Dakota: $2 million to install
replacement Runway 7/25 end
approach path identifier lights,
making the airport more accessible by improving approaches to the
runway ends and reconstructing
Taxiway D lighting.
The full list of projects can be found
at faa.gov/bil/airport-infrastructure .
GA Pilot Winter Prep Workshop
The FAA provided a free work-
shop on how to prepare for winter weather and operate safely in chang-ing weather conditions. The event
covered tips for preflight, enroute,
and post-flight actions as well as
other helpful information for pilots in the cooler months. Panelists
included GA industry reps, pilots,
air traffic controllers, meteorologists,
and other safety experts.
If you missed the live event,
visit bit.ly/3G8g8dh to catch up on the discussion.
FAA to Appoint Rulemaking
Committee to Examine Pilot
Mental Health
The FAA will establish a Pilot
Mental Health Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to provide rec-
ommendations on breaking down
the barriers that prevent pilots from
reporting mental health issues to
the agency.
The ARC will include medical
experts and aviation and labor repre-sentatives and will build on previous work the FAA has done to prioritize
pilot mental health, including:
• Increasing mental health training
for medical examiners
• Supporting industry-wide research and clinical studies on
pilot mental health
• Hiring additional mental health
professionals to expand in-house
expertise and to decrease wait times
for return-to-fly decisions
• Completed clinical research and amended policy to decrease the fre-
quency of cognitive testing in pilots
using antidepressant medications
• Increasing outreach to pilot groups to educate them on available resources
In addition, the FAA will work with
the ARC to address open recom-
mendations from the July 2023 DOT
Office of Inspector General report on
Pilot Mental Health Challenges. Visit
bit.ly/46dzo3O to view the report and access additional resources for pilot
mental health.
January/February 2024 5
AEROMEDICAL ADVISORYa checkup on all things aeromedical
DR. SUSAN NORTHRUP , FAA FEDERAL AIR SURGEON
DISCLOSING DRUG AND ALCOHOL OFFENSES
Most of you know that there are
specific limits regarding alcohol
consumption when you plan to
fly. Y ou must abstain from alcohol
for at least 8 hours prior (12 hours
in the military) and your blood alcohol level must be less than
0.04% (grams/deciliter) per Title 14,
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), section 91.17. The use of alcohol
and other drugs (legal or illicit)
proximate to flight is simply not
safe. Studies have shown that there
is an increased mishap rate among pilots who have had a DUI or DWI
(driving under the influence or
driving while intoxicated). In addi-tion, a significant number of pilots
involved in fatal accidents have had
alcohol or other impairing drugs
found in their system at autopsy.
The FAA is very concerned about
this safety risk, and, as such, FAA regulations put an emphasis on the
importance of flying unimpaired.
Y ou should also know that pilots are
required to report alcohol or drug-
related incidents to
the FAA. Pilots
who maintain an
FAA medical
certificate and
operate under
part 121 or 135
face additional
requirements
including random
drug and
alcohol
testing.
Pilots are
subject to
the reporting
requirements of
14 CFR section
61.15. Y ou must provide a written report to the FAA
Civil Aviation Security Division within 60 days of any action regarding your
driver’s license. This includes suspen-
sions, convictions, etc. Please note that this is required even if charges are
subsequently dismissed. Also note that
multiple reports might be required
for the same offense, for instance, if a
suspension is followed by a later con-viction. This regulatory requirement
reflects how the law was written.
Pilots who maintain FAA medical
certification have additional reporting
requirements under items 18 and 20 of the medical certificate application
(FAA Form 8500-8). This is sepa-
rate from the reporting due under section 61.15 and neither disclosure
satisfies the reporting requirement
for the other. Also, applicants for a
medical certificate or those choosing
the BasicMed pathway grant consent for a review of the National Driver’s
Registry (NDR) as part of the applica-
tion process.
There are also considerations for
those who fly ultralights (part 103) and drones (part 107). The use of
alcohol or other drugs is limited in
section 103.9 and sections 107.23, 107.27, and 107.57, respectively in
addition to section 91.17. While there
is no specific reporting requirement
under part 103 or 107, a pilot who
holds a certificate issued under part 61 must still meet the reporting
requirements of paragraph 15 even if
they no longer exercise that certificate.
Clearly, the take-home message
is don’t drink and fly, or drive for that matter. Some that do are repeat
offenders before they are caught by
law enforcement. If you are going out and plan to drink, also plan to
have a designated driver, take a cab, or spend the night at a hotel or with
a friend. Some of you already follow this guidance. Hopefully, more of
you will. However, some will test
the system and get caught. Y ou risk being involved in an accident or
losing your pilot certificates with a
mandatory grounding period before
retesting is permitted.
Let’s assume that the FAA ’s legal
team has determined enforcement action is unnecessary after reporting.
There are still considerations for pilots
who hold an FAA medical certificate.
Both substance abuse and dependence are specifically disqualifying condi-
tions listed in 14 CFR part 67. While a
single event (DUI/DWI) can be rela-tively straightforward if an underlying
dependence is absent, many times it
will still require clearance from the
FAA. For multiple events and/or cases
where dependence is demonstrated, the pilot should anticipate that they
will not be flying until the FAA is
satisfied that the individual is in good recovery. Even then, years of monitor -
ing is the rule.
Don’t drink and drive or fly. But if
you do, prompt and full reporting is
the best path forward.
Dr. Susan Northrup received a bachelor’s degree in chem-
istry, a medical degree from The Ohio State University, and
a master’s degree in public health from the University of
Texas. She is double board-certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Aerospace Medicine and Occupa-tional Medicine. She is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a
former regional medical director for Delta Air Lines. She is
also an active private pilot.
LEARN MORE
FAA’s Airmen and Drug/Alcohol-Related Motor
Vehicle Actions webpage
faa.gov/go/duidwi
6 FAA Safety Briefing
Understanding
THE COMPLIANCE PROGRAM ...
One Bite at a Time!
By LeRoy “Lee” Stromenger
The Jan/Feb 2016 issue of the FAA Safety Briefing
included an article about the FAA ’s new Compliance
Philosophy and how it would play a significant role
in the FAA ’s strategic initiatives designed to “lay the foundation for the aerospace system of the future. ” Now,
nearly 10 years after its initiation and more than 5 years after a name change to the Compliance Program, the FAA
continues to advance this program to improve the general
aviation (GA) safety record. What has made this program so successful is the transparent exchange of safety infor -
mation. The FAA has been able to mitigate safety hazards, operational risks, and systemic issues, and also advance
the General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC)
and the FAA ’s General Aviation Safety Outreach Initiative thanks to this exchange.
The FAA has done much to promote and communi-
cate the principles of the Compliance Program, however, there are still some in the GA community who are
unfamiliar or unaware of the program and who may feel
intimidated to speak to the FAA about a safety issue. So,
we have more work to do, and as Desmond Tutu once
wisely said, “There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time. ” This article will break down several
important elements of the Compliance Program, such as
what a just culture is, the different types of compliance actions, and the decision process we use for implement-ing those actions, into bite-sized chunks.
Just Culture
One definition of a just culture is, “ An atmosphere in which regulated persons appreciate the value of self-dis-
closing both regulatory and nonregulatory safety issues.
It allows for consideration of unintentional errors and
creates a non-punitive environment, where errors are
reported without fear of reprisal. ” This is a well-thought-out definition, but what does it mean and how does it
apply to GA?
In the not-so-distant past, the FAA had limited tools to
enforce aviation regulations. This enforcement was typ-ically completed through civil penalties, and certificate
suspensions or revocations. With the Compliance Program,
the FAA has new tools (e.g., compliance actions) to not
only enforce aviation regulations but, to also fix safety issues. With these new tools comes new responsibilities for
the safety inspector.
Safety inspectors are charged with considering all
circumstances related to the facts of a specific event. They must make a good-faith effort to understand the position
of the airman or organization while ensuring they also
communicate the agency’s position on the issue being
investigated. Errors must be identified, reported, and ana -
lyzed in a non-blaming manner.
Safety inspectors must understand the difference between
accountability, which accepts responsibility and looks
forward, and blame, which focuses on punishment for what
has already occurred. The key to a just safety culture is the ability to determine where the line should be drawn between
unsafe acts that can be effectively addressed by using com -
pliance tools (accountability) and unacceptable behavior that
requires the use of enforcement action (blame).
As mentioned earlier, there needs to be a cultural evolu-
tion, by both parties, to be fully successful. A just culture
relies on the GA community to be an active participant.
Participation includes some self-reflection and taking responsibility for your actions or inactions. By having the
GA community voluntarily self-disclosing both regulatory
and nonregulatory safety issues, the FAA is better equipped to identify and correct hazards and unsafe conditions in the
National Airspace System (NAS).
Generally, it is the FAA ’s policy to forgo enforcement
actions when you detect a violation, disclose the violations
to the FAA, and take prompt corrective action to ensure that the same or similar violation does not reoccur. The
policy is designed to encourage compliance with FAA
regulations, foster safe operating practices, and promote
the development and maturation of effective safety man-
agement principles.Compliance Defined
A compliance action is an action taken by Flight Standards Service personnel, not the certificate holder,
for both regulatory and nonregulatory issues. For reg-
ulatory (noncompliance) issues, a compliance action is
taken to correct an airman/organization/noncertificated
person’s noncompliance or alleged noncompliance when the person is willing and able to comply with regulatory
standards, and when the noncompliance does not meet
the criteria for enforcement.
For nonregulatory (nonconformance) issues, a compli-
ance action is taken to communicate nonconformances, safety hazards, risks, concerns, or recommendations. We’ll
provide some examples of compliance actions a bit later.
A corrective action, which is different from a compliance
action, is the action taken by airmen, organizations, or noncertificated persons responsible for a problem or issue
to eliminate or mitigate the cause or reduce the effects of a detected nonconformity, noncompliance, or other unde-
sirable situation. The distinction here is that a compliance
action is the action taken by the FAA and a corrective
action is the action taken by the airmen, organization, or
noncertificated person.
Y ou may have noticed the terms “noncompliance”
and “nonconformance. ” These terms are unique and have different meanings, however, they have been used
synonymously over time and have contributed to some
January/February 2024 7
8 FAA Safety Briefing
misunderstandings. Noncompliance is defined as not com-
plying with a statute, regulation, or an order issued pursu-
ant to a statute or regulation. The FAA uses the term non-
compliance when a deviation to a regulatory standard has
occurred. For these regulatory issues, the FAA uses compli-
ance actions or enforcement actions to ensure safety in the NAS. Nonconformance is defined as not complying with
an organization’s requirements, policies, and procedures to
include risk controls developed by the organization. These are considered by the FAA as nonregulatory deviations.
Y ou may ask, “Why is the FAA concerned with nonreg-
ulatory issues?” Developing regulations for every possible
situation is ineffective, if not impossible. Thus, all risk
cannot be controlled through regulation. However, by using a proactive approach that looks beyond the regula-
tions, we can address more of the hazards in the system.
Such compliance actions are used to communicate risk and to encourage adoption of best practices.
Types of Compliance Action
Now let’s take a look at the several different types of com-pliance actions that are used. These include, but are not
limited to, counseling, education, on-the-spot correction,
additional training, and remedial training.
Counseling, which can be written or oral, is given to
airmen, organization personnel, or non-certificated NAS participants, such as passengers. The common practice of
counseling may be used at any appropriate time to clarify
a person’s understanding and convey regulatory informa-tion, best practices, or safety concerns/issues, including the recommendation of additional training or education where no noncompliance occurred. With the advancement
of internet-based video teleconferencing applications, the
FAA may now be able to offer counseling through these venues, depending on their availability.
Education is a type of compliance action that provides or
makes referrals for safety, training, or other aviation edu-
cational resources, such as those found at FAASafety.gov
or other publicly available sources, to share best practices or recommend additional study in areas of identified risk.
Education is recommended when knowledge, skill, or system/
process improvements would be beneficial. It can be used in conjunction with a regulatory compliance action or enforce-
ment action or can be recommended when no noncompliance
has occurred.
An on-the-spot correction is a quick fix of a simple
mistake or other apparent noncompliance, or a quick fix of a condition that could have resulted in noncompliance
had an operation occurred, and which does not require
additional follow-up. The fix must be observed and verified
by the FAA. On-the-spot corrections are appropriate when
adding missing information or a signature to an incom-plete form; retrieving a certificate from home or receiving
temporary authority from the Airmen Certification Branch
before exercising certificate privileges; stowing luggage or equipment blocking an emergency exit; correcting an
incorrect instrument setting; or installing missing fasteners.
Additional training is any training for individuals
remediated through their organization’s approved training
program, through another required training program for
January/February 2024 9their job function or work environment (such as carrier or
repair station employees receiving Security Identification
Display Area (SIDA) or ramp driver training from the
airport), or the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) remedial
training program.
Remedial training is a form of compliance action that
uses education and training to allow airmen, who have committed an inadvertent apparent noncompliance, to
enhance their knowledge and skills. Safety inspectors recommend remedial training for certificated airmen when
training is the appropriate action to take for noncompli-
ance with statutory or regulatory standards. The use of
remedial training requires coordination between the refer -
ring safety inspector and the FAASTeam.
Regardless of the type of compliance action that is
selected, it is important to note that the airman, organiza-
tion, or noncertificated person must be willing and able to comply. We must also verify that the noncompliance does
not involve criminal or reckless behavior, intentional acts,
or a significant safety risk, which would exclude it from a
compliance action being used.
Compliance Action Decision Process (CADP)
When the FAA becomes aware of a noncompliance, its
first action is to ensure the noncompliance is not permit-
ted to continue. There are no FAA programs or initiatives
that permit continued operation in noncompliance. Once
the noncompliance has stopped, the FAA will initially use
a compliance action to address all alleged, suspected, or identified instances of noncompliance. Compliance actions
will be used to correct all noncompliance and nonconfor -
mity unless the FAA determines it is not appropriate.
While a compliance action is the initial means to address
the noncompliance, there may be instances where it is not
appropriate. A safety inspector is not required to first use a
compliance action if the noncompliance is excluded. In the
earliest stages of the Compliance Philosophy, a flowchart was developed to provide a process for safety inspectors
to determine the best course of action. This Compliance
Action Decision Process (CADP) that safety inspectors use today, has been improved over time and is a detailed
root cause analysis process that helps determine what
happened, how to effectively address the noncompliance or
nonconformance, how to resolve the issue through cor -
rective actions, and then validate the effectiveness of those
corrective actions.
This decision-making structure requires an open and
transparent exchange of safety information to correct the
noncompliance and to ensure that the risk of reoccurrence
is acceptably mitigated. The exchange of information occurs during interviews, in written statements, and when
reviewing and providing supporting documentation.
The CADP begins when the FAA becomes aware of a potential problem and details how the safety inspector
completes the notification requirement. The next step
is where the safety inspector investigates, analyzes, and
assesses the problem. They identify who was involved, what happened, what regulatory or statutory requirement, if any,
was not complied with, and when and where the problem
occurred. With this data identified and verified, the safety inspector will conduct a root cause analysis of the problem
to understand why it happened.
When the analysis is complete, the safety inspector can
determine whether or not noncompliance occurred and if
a compliance action is appropriate. If eligible, the inspec-tor would apply a compliance action and then follow up
to assure its effectiveness and that the problem has been
fixed. This high-level overview shows the process the safety inspector is required to use when they become aware of a
potential problem. However, you may be wondering what
this looks like in practice.
Example of the CADP process
One of the FAA surveillance activities that many in the GA community are familiar with is an aircraft ramp inspection.
In this example, the safety inspector is at a local airport and
is assigned to conduct a ramp inspection of a certificated
flight school’s multi-engine aircraft that carries a U.S. stan-
dard category airworthiness certificate.
During the inspection, the safety inspector discovered
that the aircraft’s landing light appeared to be discolored and might be inoperable. This is when the FAA became aware of a potential problem. The safety inspector made
note of this discrepancy and continued the inspection.
Upon completion, the safety inspector notified the certifi-
cate holder of the apparently inoperable landing light.
The certificate holder sent out one of its flight instruc-
tors who attempted to turn on the landing light and deter -
mined it was inoperable. The flight instructor stated that
the light had worked earlier in the day and did not under -
stand why it was not working now.
The safety inspector begins an investigation by first dis-
cussing the issue with the flight instructor, then reviewing
the aircraft’s maintenance records and the aircraft’s flight
logs. Through the investigation process, it was discovered that the landing light was reported as inoperable by a
student pilot preparing for a night flight two days earlier.
The student pilot informed maintenance and did not
operate the aircraft. Despite this, the landing light discrep-
ancy was not documented, nor were any actions taken to troubleshoot or repair the landing light before the aircraft
was later operated to provide flight instruction, under
night, VFR conditions.
The safety inspector continued to investigate the issue
and identified who was involved, what regulation was not complied with, and when and where it happened. They
10 FAA Safety Briefing
then interviewed the certificate holder’s managers to help
determine the root cause of the problem.
The results of the investigation revealed that the flight
school was aware of the landing light issue, however, they
indicated that the landing light was operating intermit-
tently and that they did not inspect the landing light bulb or electrical wiring to determine the extent of the issue.
Based on the results of the investigation and the root cause
analysis, the safety inspector determined that there was regulatory noncompliance.
This is the point in the process when the safety inspec-
tor must determine if compliance action is appropriate
and if so, what form will be used. In this scenario, the
safety inspector determined that compliance action would be appropriate as the certificate holder demonstrated a
willingness and ability to comply with regulatory standards
and that the deviation did not involve criminal or reckless behavior, an intentional act, or that otherwise introduced a
significant safety risk.
In consultation with the certificate holder, the safety
inspector determined the appropriate compliance actions
would be an on-the-spot correction for the landing light
and counseling to clarify the certificate holder’s under -
standing of regulatory information. The counseling included an emphasis on the airworthiness requirements of
their aircraft.
Since this on-the-spot correction was observed by
the safety inspector, there was no follow-up require-ment for the landing light, and the safety inspector was assured the landing light problem had been fixed. The
safety inspector was also confident that the counseling
provided to the certificated flight school would assure
future compliance.
One Bite at a Time
As former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta stated:
To find and fix safety problems, there has to be an open and transparent exchange of information and data
between the FAA and industry. We don’t want opera-tors who might inadvertently make a mistake to hide it
because they have a fear of being punished. If there is a
failing, whether human or mechanical, we need to know
about it, to learn from it, and make the changes neces-
sary to prevent it from happening again. Again, it’s about finding the problem, fixing the problem, and making sure
it stays fixed.
That open and transparent exchange of information
requires mutual cooperation and trust, which can be
challenging to achieve in the traditional, enforcement-fo-
cused regulatory model.
The Compliance Program has allowed the agency to
move away from the enforcement-focused regulatory model to a model that uses a non-enforcement approach to correct problems that arise from flawed systems and
procedures, simple mistakes, lack of understanding, or
diminished skills. We can achieve the next level of safety in
the GA community, a bite at a time.
LeRoy “Lee” Stromenger is an aviation safety inspector and is part of the FAA Flight Stan -
dards Safety and Compliance Team in the Safety Analysis & Promotion Division.
LEARN MORE
FAA Compliance Program webpage
faa.gov/about/initiatives/cp
Compliance Program brochure
bit.ly/3NXGqTdCompliance Program presentation
bit.ly/3Di02MHAn FAA aviation safety inspector examines an airplane.
January/February 2024 11
Dive into
Compliance
Program Data
By Cristy Minnis
The Compliance Program is an integral part of how the
FAA ’s Flight Standards Service conducts its regulatory
oversight. But did you know that Flight Standards is
not the only program office in the FAA that incorporates the Compliance Program into its oversight activities? There
are actually seven other offices in the FAA that implement the Compliance Program. Those offices are:
• Aircraft Certification Service
• Office of Airports
• Office of Commercial Space Transportation
• Office of Hazardous Materials Safety
• Air Traffic Safety Oversight Service
• Office of National Security Programs and Incident Response
• Office of Aerospace Medicine
The Office of the Chief Counsel also plays a role in
the Compliance Program. Together, these offices use the Compliance Program to ensure the safety of everyone oper -
ating in the National Airspace System (NAS) and beyond.
Collaborative Compliance
The Compliance Program has changed the way the entire FAA approaches regulatory oversight. Because honest
mistakes do occur, especially when operating in complex
environments, the Compliance Program strives to promote trust and transparency between the FAA and those we oversee. Our goal is to identify safety issues and correct
them as efficiently and effectively as possible. By working
collaboratively, we can resolve those safety issues while enhancing the safety performance of individuals and
entities operating in the NAS and identify potential areas
of risk that may impact others. By analyzing trends in data
collected from identified safety issues, we are better able to
determine if safety concerns are becoming systemic. When this happens, we can then inform interested parties both
within and outside of the FAA.
Since 2015, the FAA has set a course with the
Compliance Program to help ensure the highest levels of safety. So how do we measure if the Compliance Program
has been successful? Over the last eight years, Flight Standards has taken more than 44,000 compliance actions
to address regulatory noncompliances. These compliance
actions represent opportunities where the certificate holder and the FAA achieve compliance by working together to
mitigate safety concerns. But these are not the only actions Measuring
Our goal is to identify safety issues
and correct them as efficiently and
effectively as possible.
12 FAA Safety Briefing
that Flight Standards takes. If, through the investigation
process, it is determined that a certificate holder is unwill-
ing, unable, or has committed a violation that requires legal
enforcement action by law, Flight Standards pursues the
appropriate course of action.
Flight Standards initiated more than 9,000 legal and
administrative actions since the program started. We are finding that the top regulation cited in an enforcement
action for individuals is 14 CFR section 91.13(a), Careless or reckless operation . — “No person may operate an aircraft
in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another. ”
50004000300020001000
FY2020 FY2021 FY2022 FY2023
Compliance Actions Legal/Administrative ActionsTotal Apparent Regulatory DeviationsDifferent Situations
So, what are the types of compliance actions that
Flight Standards use to regain compliance? When the
Compliance Program was implemented, new types of
actions were created for the inspector workforce. Some
of these actions consisted of counseling and on-the-spot
corrections, whereas others centered around additional training or remedial training efforts. There is no set
amount of time for how long it takes to complete a com-
pliance action. Every situation is different, and the action will remain open until compliance is regained. However,
based on a cumulative analysis, it takes an average of 30
days for a compliance action to be completed.
We analyze a number of areas of the program, includ-
ing the number and duration of actions, to determine its success. But these are only surface-level measurements.
The success of the program is really based on deeper
considerations. One meaningful
area that we factor into the
success of the program is how
often we are seeing certif-
icate holders with repeat
noncompliance. With our
mission being to find and
fix noncompliance in the
most effective way and
prevent recurrence, we
have a vested interest
in preventing repeat
deviations. In our most
recent review of the
certificate holders who
had a regulatory There is no set amount of time
for how long it takes to complete a
compliance action.
Since fiscal year 2020, Flight Standards took compliance actions over 80% of the time when
addressing regulatory noncompliance.
noncompliance in the last two years, less than 1% had a
repeat noncompliance of the same type. We consider this
a huge success.
We also look at other indirect indicators of success in
applying the principles of the program. Given that one of
the tenets of the Compliance Program is to foster an envi-
ronment of trust, transparency, and collaboration between
the FAA and the certificate holders, the program supports the use of voluntary safety reporting programs. When
the Compliance Program was implemented, we wanted
to ensure that voluntary reporting was not negatively impacted. Since the program’s inception, the voluntary safety reporting programs have seen an increase in submis-
sions to their systems. We also monitor other factors that
could be indirect indicators of success including accidents and incidents, as well as pilot deviations. We will continue
to analyze the causal factors that contribute to these types
of events to determine if there are ways to bring aware-
ness to them, and, as a main objective of the Compliance
Program, seek to mitigate similar events in the future.
The Future
As operations in the NAS continue to increase, and inno-vations are made in the aviation sector, the Compliance
Program will continue to evolve along with our oversight
activities. Our mission is to provide the safest, most
efficient aerospace system in the world, and we will
endeavor to ensure the success of that mission with the Compliance Program.
Cristy Minnis is the management and program analyst of the FAA’s Safety and Compliance Team.
Our mission is to provide the safest,
most efficient aerospace system in
the world, and we will endeavor to
ensure the success of that mission
with the Compliance Program
January/February 2024 13
14 FAA Safety Briefing
DRONE SAFETY
an d the
F AA’s Compliance Program
Creating a Just
Safety Culture for all Pilots
By Rafael Gaddi
Jeff got a drone for Christmas, but it’s been too cold to
use it yet. Then along comes one of those rare warm
winter days that remind him spring will come again.
He takes his new drone out of its box, makes sure its batteries are charged, and heads outside. After an hour of
flying, Jeff loses control of his drone, and it crashes into his neighbor’s car damaging the windshield and setting off
the car alarm. A law enforcement officer happened to be
nearby and responded to the alarm. Although Jeff worked things out with his neighbor, the officer notified the FAA
of the incident. A short time later, Jeff received a Letter of
Investigation (LOI) from the FAA. The word “investiga-
tion” jumps off the page causing Jeff to worry that he might
be facing fines or worse. His worry is premature though because the FAA ’s Compliance Program applies to drone
pilots too!
Our new recreational flyer might wonder how in the
world the FAA ended up involved in regulating what he perceives to be a harmless hobby. While some drones
might be small and seem like a toy, they are aircraft, and
anyone who flies a drone is a pilot.
Drones can also be used for more than just recreational
flying. Many are now capable of achieving high speeds, carrying various payloads, and conducting surveillance or
inspections. They have been used to transport medicine to hard-to-reach places and assess natural disasters, such as tornados, tsunamis, and hurricanes, where roads were
inaccessible to first responders. Many large companies
are noticing the value and viability of drones as well
and are looking for ways to utilize them for economical,
eco-friendly, and faster operations — such as delivering packages. When it comes to drones, the possibilities and
applications are endless. But whether flown for fun, or any-
thing else, drones can present unique challenges to safety. Let’s look at some areas where drone operations could
inadvertently pose a risk and how the Compliance Program
aims to address those incidents.
As recreational flyers and commercial operators alike
discover new ways that drones can increase fun and profit,
the risk to the National Airspace System (NAS) could
also increase. In 2015, before the FAA finalized the first While some drones might be
small and seem like a toy,
they are aircraft, and anyone who
flies a drone is a pilot.
January/February 2024 15
rule for drones known as part 107, two drone incidents
caught national attention. The first one happened when
a drone crashed on the grounds of the White House, and
the second happened when another crash-landed near the
White House’s south lawn later that same year. In addition
to increasing the risk to the NAS, drone incidents like these create daunting challenges to the security agencies charged
with protecting our national security.
Despite the collaborative efforts by the FAA and indus-
try to communicate the dangers related to unauthorized drone flying near aircraft and airports, the agency regularly
receives concerning reports of close calls and sightings
from pilots, public citizens, and law enforcement agencies
each month. Many of these close encounters are captured on video and posted to social media.
Drones are also being increasingly spotted at sporting
events like Major League Baseball and National League Football games. Stadiums with seating capacities of 30,000
or more spectators are covered under special security
instructions. However, unauthorized drone activities over
sporting events continues to be a growing problem, causing
safety concerns, delays, and disruptions.
On Nov. 26, 2017, a drone pilot flew a drone over two
NFL games and dropped leaflets on spectators below. Tens of thousands of spectators were present for both
events. The pilot pled guilty to the criminal act and was
sentenced in May 2022 (oig.dot.gov/library-item/38988). If there had been an issue with the drone, there was a
chance it could have ended up in the stands among the
spectators and caused harm or injury.
If You See Something, Say Something!
The FAA works closely with public safety agencies across the country, providing education and assistance for offi-
cers. Because reporting is an important part of our safety
culture and how we all keep the NAS safe, the FAA encour -
ages everyone to report unsafe aircraft operations.
There are numerous agencies that handle reports of
unauthorized drone use near airports and sporting events.
Y ou may report unauthorized drone operations to the
sporting venue’s security personnel or to local law enforce-ment. Y ou can also make reports to the FAA through your
local FSDO at bit.ly/418jjv9.There is also a special type of reporting: voluntary
reporting. The FAA has worked together with the aviation
community to create an environment where drone pilots can appreciate the value of, and feel comfortable, self-dis-
closing safety issues. NASA ’s Aviation Safety Reporting
System (ASRS) is the place to go to submit this type of
report (asrs.arc.nasa.gov). ASRS reports are de-identified
and then shared to help everyone learn from incidents. If Jeff had known about ASRS, he could have used it to
submit a report about his drone incident to try and help
other new drone pilots avoid the mistakes he made. The
FAA considers this type of self-reporting evidence of a
constructive attitude, which is an important part of the Compliance Program.
The honest and open exchange of safety information
is integral to the Compliance Program. As such, the FAA
continues to encourage the public to report unauthorized
drone operations to help prevent risky and unsafe activities
in the NAS.
Explaining FAA’s Compliance Program
In 2015, the FAA made a shift in its enforcement policy
with its Compliance Program (initially called Compliance
Philosophy). This shift allowed the FAA to take
compliance actions such
as counseling, training and education instead
of legal enforcement
actions (e.g., fines or certificate suspensions).
The objective of this
program is to identify
the safety problems that Compliance actions can be taken
to correct unintentional mistakes
arising from simple mistakes, lack of
understanding, or diminished skills.
caused the incident
and correct them as
quickly, efficiently, and
effectively as possible.
This program stresses
a collaborative prob-lem-solving approach
along with fostering
an open and trans-parent exchange of
information to enhance the safety of the NAS. For more information, go to faa.gov/about/initiatives/cp .
The Compliance Program focuses on using non-
punitive methods, or “compliance actions, ” where appro-priate. Compliance actions can be taken to correct unin-
tentional mistakes arising from simple mistakes, lack of
understanding, or diminished skills. Examples of such actions include on-the-spot-correction, counseling, and
additional training with the purpose of restoring compli-
ance and identifying and correcting the underlying causes
that led to the incident. It is intended to be used as an open
and transparent safety information exchange between you and FAA personnel.
Now let’s finish our story and see how the Compliance
Program works for Jeff. Jeff meets the inspector to discuss
the incident with his drone. He tells the inspector that he
just got his drone, and this was his very first time flying. He is only interested in flying for fun and was not aware of
the rules and regulations that apply when flying a drone.
He apologizes and asks for more information about how he can fly in compliance with the FAA ’s rules. Seeing that
Jeff is willing to learn more about flying drones safely,
the inspector determines that counseling would be the
most effective method to help Jeff in his future flying. The
inspector starts by telling Jeff to take the TRUST— an aero-nautical knowledge and safety test developed by the FAA for recreational drone flyers. He also talks to Jeff about how to register his drone, check the airspace for any restrictions
before taking off, and about what a community-based
organization (CBO) is. He lets Jeff know that following an
FAA-recognized CBO’s safety guidelines is important for
safety and is required by regulation for recreational flyers.
Not every investigation ends with a compliance action
though. In contrast, an unwillingness or inability to comply may result in legal enforcement action. Likewise, evidence that supports an intentional deviation, careless or reckless
behavior, or other significant unsafe act, would rule out
compliance actions. These behaviors represent the greatest
safety risk to the NAS.
The Compliance Program is integral to safely integrat-
ing drones. It allows us to work together and share lessons learned to improve safety. When something happens, let’s
learn and grow from it. With the help of the Compliance Program, the skies above can remain safe and accessible for
all aviators, new and experienced.
Rafael Gaddi is an aviation safety inspector and is part of the FAA Flight Standards Safety
and Compliance Team in the Safety Analysis & Promotion Division.
One-Stop-Shop For Drone Safety—FAA.gov/UAS
Drone operators who focus on safety right from the start are a big
part of advancing drone integration. But how do you make sure you
start off on the right foot? The FAA has been working with industry
partners and the aviation community to advance drone operations
and integrate them into the NAS. A one-stop-shop webpage,
faa.gov/uas, was developed for all drone pilots, whether new or experienced, recreational or commercial. Whether you intend to fly
drones for fun or anything else, the rules, resources, and tools to help
you get started flying safely are available on this website, including instructions for registering your drone.
Experience a New Level of Safety #ADSB
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
WWW.FAA.GOV/GO/EQUIPADSBVisit the Equip ADS-B Website to:
• Find out if your ADS-B Out equipment is working properly
• Review the top five things pilots should know about their
ADS-B system
• Learn more about the FAA’s Privacy ICAO Address program• See aircraft equipage levels by category• Report an issue with TIS-B, FIS-B, or other aspect of the
ADS-B system
Produced by FAA Communications | 2023-AJM-012
January/February 2024 17
Sharing is Caring
How Voluntary
Reporting Programs
Benefit Everyone
By Jeffrey Smith
It’s a beautiful winter day with clear skies, unrestricted
visibility, and no turbulence. Y ou’re returning to your
home base after getting lunch at a nearby airport. Y our
significant other is next to you, enjoying the benefits of your newly acquired pilot certificate. Full of fresh barbe-
que, relishing the awesome weather, and sharing this flight with your loved one, you think — what could go wrong?
Y ou’re a few miles from your destination, which lies under -
neath Class B airspace. Y ou look at your GPS (with data
link to your transponder/ADS-B) and see a “Transponder
Failed” message. Questions flood your mind. How long has
the transponder (and perhaps ADS-B) been inoperative?
Are you in regulatory violation? Will you get a call from
the FAA? And why has this perfect flight been marred by a failure in technology?
This hypothetical scenario can help us understand the
interface between voluntary reporting programs and the FAA ’s Compliance Program. We’ll also see how these initia-
tives can benefit you in this kind of situation. Let’s start by
reviewing some background information. Foundations of Safety
The Compliance Program has been around for about nine years now, but the foundations of the program have been
around for much longer. This includes the various voluntary
reporting programs, which have long recognized the value
of a transparent exchange of safety-related information. The
Compliance Program takes the concepts of voluntary report -
ing programs and makes the general benefits available to all
participants in the National Airspace System (NAS).
Trying to ignore or cover up safety issues is antithetical
to the concept of sharing and does nothing to advance avi-ation safety. And in many cases, it can result in a negative
outcome. Examples of this include not reporting damage
to a rental aircraft, which would pass that risk along to the
next renter, or a close encounter between a crewed air -
craft and a drone near an airport. In the case of the close
encounter, you may be reluctant to report the event for fear
of scrutiny by the FAA over your altitude or presence in that area. However, failure by you and others to report such
18 FAA Safety Briefing
events allows drones and other operators in that
area to have future flights in dangerous proximity
to each other. The risky situation may continue
until a mid-air collision occurs.
Volunteering Data
This is where the voluntary programs come in. While the details vary per program, in general, they allow
for reporting an event without fear that the infor -
mation will be used against you. A report that meets applicable criteria also provides certain protections
from a legal enforcement sanction. In return, the FAA receives safety information that people would
otherwise be reluctant to share. This information
helps identify safety issues, informs where resources need to be focused, and indicates if specific outreach
to the aviation community is needed.
Perhaps the most familiar voluntary report-
ing mechanism for general aviation (GA) is the
Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). Dating back to 1975, it is also the longest running of the programs.
ASRS is often colloquially referred to as “NASA reports”
due to NASA receiving and processing the data before any information is sent to the FAA. A report can be filed
by anyone to express a safety issue, even if it involves a
regulatory violation. NASA will review the information and
provide proof of receipt. The personally identifying infor -
mation will not be shared outside of NASA, including with
the FAA, unless the report involves criminal activity or an
accident. Further, if the event became known to the FAA
by some other means and the FAA takes legal enforcement
action, then the FAA will not impose any civil penalty or
certification suspension if certain criteria are met.
Sharing is Good
In all that we do as participants in the NAS, safety should be at the forefront. The use of voluntary reporting pro-
grams, such as ASRS, is no exception. We should be
reporting information primarily for the benefit of safety,
and we should approach any reporting with that mindset.
While there are protections afforded by the voluntary programs, we should not view them as “get-out-of-jail-free”
cards. Rather, they are another tool in an overall safety
toolbox that creates a net benefit for everyone.
The FAA believes that using these tools has a positive
impact on safety. The timeline of voluntary reporting programs, legislation, and other initiatives (see figure 1)
shows the number of fatal accidents and fatalities, and we
see a general decline for both over the past several decades. While there are many factors that contribute to the acci-
dent rate, and correlation does not equal causation, it cer -
tainly does appear that the voluntary programs and related
initiatives are contributing positively to aviation safety.
The information you provide in an ASRS report may
be used to identify safety trends that can be a catalyst for action, such as FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) messag-
ing. The information is also used by industry/government
cooperative partnerships such as the General Aviation Joint
Safety Committee (GAJSC). This group looks at a variety of
information to develop safety enhancements. These safety enhancements compel action on the part of the FAA and
aviation advocacy groups to address identified safety con-
cerns. FAASTeam educational outreach and GAJSC safety enhancements are examples of how information from volun-
tary reporting can be used to make data-informed decisions
to best focus resources and make improvements to the NAS.
Beyond GA
While this article focuses on the reporting and initia-tives most familiar to the GA community, there are
other voluntary reporting programs. The Aviation Safety
Action Program (ASAP) is used by pilots, mechanics,
flight attendants, ground personnel, and others working
for commercial operators. The Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program (VDRP) is used by management at
many air carriers and repair stations. Both ASAP and
VDRP , along with other voluntary programs, have the same basic tenets — identify safety issues and take action
to prevent future problems. And, as a parallel to the
GAJSC, the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST)
works to address risk in the commercial aviation sector.
The numbers of voluntarily submitted reports into
ASRS, ASAP , and VDRP have been on the rise over the past several years including the era of the Compliance Program
(except at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic). The FAA believes this shows that the aviation indus-
try and community continue to see the value in sharing Figure 1: The FAA believes that voluntary reporting programs, legislation, and other initiatives are having a
positive impact on aviation safety.
January/February 2024 19information through voluntary reporting programs.
To Report or Not to Report
Now that we’ve taken an in-depth look at the voluntary
reporting programs, let’s return to the example of the tran-
sponder failure from the beginning of this article.
Despite the initial shock, fortunately, you are an avid
reader of the FAA Safety Briefing and aware of the FAA ’s
Compliance Program and the just safety culture approach the agency takes towards safety deviations. Y our panic sub-
sides and you consider your options. Y ou are already well
inside the overlying shelf of the Class B and near your des-tination, which is the closest airport relative to your current
position. Y ou decide it makes sense to continue home. Y ou
also figure that it may be best to try and have your ADS-B
Out functioning prior to entering the traffic pattern. Y ou
recycle the GPS-integrated unit by turning it off and then back on. The technology comes back to life, and you get
that familiar indication of the transponder output. Y ou land
without further incident.
Out of curiosity, you check an online flight tracking
website to see your flight path. Y ou note that it shows your takeoff from the airport where you had lunch, but the trail
drops off after 20 miles. Y ou conclude that’s where the tran-
sponder and ADS-B likely failed. Y ou also do some mental calculations to determine that you went about 10 minutes
before noticing the failure and that the failure occurred
outside the 30 nautical mile Class B ring. This could indicate
a deviation from 14 CFR part 91, sections 91.217 and 91.225.
Y ou want to make certain that such an event does not
happen again. Y ou think the transponder failure was a glitch, and while you intend to be vigilant for future fail-
ures, your biggest worry is that you were unaware of the failure message. Y ou plan to add the GPS message area
to your normal flight instrument and engine indicator
scan. Y ou also plan to check the GPS for functionality,
and for any traffic between you and the airport, prior
to entering that 30 nautical mile ring. So, you have a good plan moving forward to improve procedures and prevent reoccurrence, which are expectations under the
Compliance Program.
Wanting to contribute to the safety system, you deter -
mine that filing an ASRS report would be beneficial. Y ou go to the website listed in the Learn More section below and
find the link for an electronic report submission. Y ou com-
plete the report and ultimately receive the confirmation
from NASA. As this was not an accident or criminal activ-ity, you know that NASA will not share your name or the
specific details of this event with the FAA. Y ou also know
that if there are several similar events reported through ASRS, additional systemic actions may be recommended.
Y ou also retain the reporter identification strip returned to
you by NASA in case it is needed for future reference.
There is a possibility that the local FAA Flight Standards
District Office (FSDO) may reach out to you about the flight. The FSDO may have received information from the Class
B air traffic control facility, and an aviation safety inspector
could contact you as part of a routine investigation. This
would be handled under the Compliance Program and the
FAA ’s just safety culture foundations. Based on the details of the event and the lack of negative historical records, it
is likely the event would be addressed with a compliance
action (perhaps counseling). If, however, the details of the event caused the FAA to take legal enforcement action, any
sanction imposed by the FAA (e.g., a 30-day certificate sus-
pension) would be waived assuming the required parameters
are met. The finding of a violation would be on your record;
however, you would not have to serve the suspension.
You Made a Difference
As you can see, there are benefits on multiple levels to contributing to the voluntary reporting programs. Y ou are
encouraged to become familiar with the programs that
apply to you. In this way, you can protect yourself, poten-
tially benefit others, and in all cases be an active participant
in improving aviation safety.
Jeffrey Smith is the acting manager of the FAA’s Field Support Program Office. He holds an
ATP certificate, is a flight and ground instructor, and is an A&P mechanic. Voluntary Programs
100K
50K
0K
150K
100K
50K
0K
2K
1K0KFY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23
FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23
FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23ASRS
ASAP
VDRP
Figure 2: The voluntary reporting numbers for the ASRS, ASAP , and VDRP have been on the
rise over the past several years.
LEARN MORE
AC 00-46F , Aviation Safety Reporting Program
bit.ly/AC00-46F
Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS)
asrs.arc.nasa.govAviation Voluntary Reporting Programs
bit.ly/3MNEmgC
20 FAA Safety Briefing
New Year, New Year,
New ( New ( SAFERSAFER ) Operations) Operations
A Closer Look
a t Personal SMS
By Nicole Hartman
For many people, the beginning of a new year is the
perfect time for a fresh start — an opportunity to make resolutions, improve habits, and aim to be better than we
were before. If you’re anything like me, these goals are easy
to make, but harder to keep. If I fail to eat healthier and read
more, I typically only disappoint myself, so the stakes are
pretty low. But the consequences are much higher if a pilot
falls short of their safety target. So, how can pilots resolve
to be safer this new year? Developing and implementing a personal safety management system (SMS) is a great start.
It's a common myth that SMS is only for large, complex
operators who have abundant resources to support and
maintain a complicated safety system. The fact is that an
SMS by its nature is scalable and can be applied to any size operation, from a major airline to a single pilot. Read on to
find out how an SMS works and how adopting a personal
system can help improve your flight safety.
Elements of SMS
An SMS (FAA Order 8000.369) is a formal, top-down, organization-wide approach to managing safety risk and
assuring the effectiveness of safety risk controls — but it
can take many shapes and sizes, depending on your situ-
ation. If your “organization” happens to only include you
or the handful of members in your flying club, it should be relatively straightforward to implement and may not be
quite so “formal. ” For many, the term “SMS” sounds like an
enormous undertaking to develop and requires some type of approval from the FAA to use, but the truth is that you’re
probably already doing many of the tasks involved in an
SMS. Do you make safety your highest priority? Check! Do
you stick to your personal minimums? Check! Other com-
ponents like a sound safety assurance process to account for changes to your circumstances and contributing to the com-
munity might not have a dedicated place in your process
yet, but incorporating them will prove to be worthwhile.
A key benefit of formalizing your system is that
you’re more likely to stick with it (unlike my New Y ear’s resolutions) and can improve your operations based on
what you learn. The system is there to make it easier for
you to reach your goal of being the safest pilot possible.
So, what makes up this system? The core of any SMS is
to provide a systematic approach to achieving acceptable levels of safety risk. SMS is comprised of four components
or “pillars, ” each of which is a function that you can use
daily to keep your operations as safe as possible. The four components include:
• Safety Policy — commitment to safety. This can be as simple as a mission statement and clearly defined per -
sonal minimums.
• Safety Risk Management — identify hazards and con-trols. This means adhering to your pre-established safety
policy when conditions exceed your limitations.
• Safety Assurance — continuous improvement. This
means having a process to decide when, how, and to what
extent personal minimums should change.
• Safety Promotion — engage, excite, involve, empower!
This means getting involved in the community (e.g.,
reporting safety concerns, mentoring).
Learn more about SMS at faa.gov/about/initiatives/sms.
January/February 2024 21A Sample SMS
So, what does a personal SMS look like? John Croft, an
Operational Safety Analyst in the FAA ’s Office of Accident
Investigation and Prevention, is no stranger to safety
culture. However, it wasn’t until he had a very close call —
with his wife and a fellow pilot on board — that he decided
to develop a personal SMS. Croft, who’s had his wings since 1978, recalled the event that prompted his need for a
process change.
“The airport I was departing from had a long and a short
runway, ” recalled Croft. “On that particular afternoon, the
long runway had a crosswind component that was well
above the maximum demonstrated crosswind for the Piper
Archer I was flying. The shorter runway however had a direct
headwind. In my flat-lander mind, we’ d lift off and climb like
a rocket into that wind, eliminating the reason the airport
didn’t recommend using that runway for takeoff — moun-
tains ahead. I had get-home-itis and pushed the throttle to
the firewall. Next thing I know, we’re heading directly for a mountain and not doing much climbing (downdraft), and a
turnback wasn’t possible because of hills to the left and right.
This was the first time my wife recalled hearing me utter the ‘Oh S(ugar)!’ expletive in all her years flying with me, so she knew it was serious. Thankfully, an escape route appeared to
my right — a road through a notch in the terrain. I followed
it, gently managing my airspeed to avoid a stall. Eventually we were able to climb and fly out of the area. ”
After the adrenaline wore off and the embarrassment set
in (he wasn’t familiar with flying in mountainous terrain
and didn’t automatically connect high winds to down-
drafts), Croft had a realization. “When something bad happens, you don’t think it will ever happen again because
now you know better — but we’re human, and we forget, ”
says Croft. This incident made it clear to him — particu-larly because he put his wife and friend in danger — that he
needed to take action or give up flying; he needed a system
to report issues, contemplate them, make changes, and
continuously evaluate the safety of his “operation. ” In other
words, he needed an SMS.
So, Croft established his own SMS, which he colloqui-
ally refers to as the “poor pilot’s SMS. ” His safety policy is motivated by his quest for the “perfect flight” and is
documented in rules and standard operating procedures.
Croft developed a web-based questionnaire on Google Forms to document hazards as the core of his safety risk
management (SRM) program. The online form leads him
(or anyone else who uses it) through a standard list of questions, which Google then populates in a spreadsheet.
He regularly reviews the spreadsheet to conduct his safety
assurance component. As part of safety promotion, Croft
shares his SMS with three clubs that he flies with, and the
spreadsheets are reviewed as a group at monthly meetings. The group discusses the hazardous situations and what can
be done to avoid them in the future. The resulting solutions
and mitigations are documented in an “SRM Distillery” so these key takeaways are not forgotten.
The fact is that an SMS by its nature
is scalable and can be applied to any
size operation, from a major airline
to a single pilot.John Croft and his wife Sharon in a Vans RV-7A.
Croft has been using his SMS for two years and the
results have been encouraging. By documenting and
reviewing incidents, he’s able to look at why something
occurred, come up with ways to prevent it from happen-
ing again, and continuously review and assess how things
are going. This review can be done solo but is even more valuable if you can get a broader analysis from a group.
Croft admits that it can be humiliating to confess to others
— especially your pilot peers — when you made an honest mistake, but that it’s important to set an example. “It’s a
tough hurdle to overcome, but we need to celebrate when
people report an issue, ” says Croft, who admittedly gets
excited when he sees others using his system to file reports.
Croft views these spreadsheets as seeds of data that will grow a garden of mitigations and ultimately get him — and
everyone he flies with — ever closer to that “perfect flight. ”
DIY SMS
While SMS can be effective regardless of the size of your
operation, figuring out where to start might still feel
like a challenge. First, document your policy or mission
statement, and write it down so you have a daily reminder
of your commitment to safety. Then, start keeping a list of
things that weren’t perfect. Analyze what went wrong and
what can be done to fix it. Save that list and iterate on the
fix continually. Periodically audit yourself to ensure the
controls you created in your SRM are still applicable. Ask
a fellow pilot to evaluate your program. Document and track your data so you can look for mistakes that happen
over and over again. Finally, get involved in the commu-
nity. Participate in voluntary safety reporting and share your mistakes and safety concerns. Offer your skills and
experience to the next generation of aviators by mentoring.
Embrace safety culture by making yourself an example.
Cheers to a Safer Year
While the beginning of a new year represents the possibil-ity for a fresh start, every single day is an opportunity to
improve, especially in the world of aviation. And imple-
menting an SMS, even in the smallest operation, is a chance
to stop an accident or incident from happening. This year,
resolve to be as safe as you can.
Nicole Hartman is an FAA Safety Briefing associate editor. She is a technical writer-editor in
the FAA’s Flight Standards Service.
LEARN MORE
“Safety Is No Accident: How A Personal SMS Can Help Keep You Safe, ” FAA Safety
Briefing, Jan/Feb 2023
bit.ly/49AGKBj
“Your Safety Reserve: Developing Personal Minimums, ” FAA Safety Briefing, Mar/
Apr 2015
bit.ly/FAASB-MarApr15
22 FAA Safety Briefing“When something bad happens,
you don’t think it will ever happen
again because now you know better
— but we’re human, and we forget. ”
January/February 2024 23
CHECKLIST FAA resources and safety remindersJAMES WILLIAMS
GO TO THE SOURCE
What is the Compliance Program and
why should you care? Whenever you
want to learn more about a topic, the
first thing you should do is head for
the primary sources on the topic. A
primary source is generally defined as an artifact, document, or any other
original material that was created at
the time by a party with direct knowl-edge of the situation. In essence, these
are the most direct sources of knowl-
edge on a topic. Secondary sources,
like books or articles written from
those primary sources, add another layer to that web.
So what does this mean when we’re
talking about FAA policy? For some-thing like the Compliance Program,
it means going to the FAA source
documents. FAA Orders are policy documents that are generally intended to instruct FAA employees on the
agency’s programs and priorities.
While the audience for these orders is
generally internal to the FAA, many
of them are publicly accessible. In this case, FAA Order 8000.373C is the con-
trolling document. If you’re looking to
understand the Compliance Program, this order is the best starting point for
a high-level overview.
Visiting the Hub
The easiest way to access FAA orders
is on the FAA ’s Orders and Notices
webpage at bit.ly/Orders_Notices. But in
this instance, there’s another option. The
Compliance Program has a separate
landing page that includes links to many different resources, including the order,
at faa.gov/about/initiatives/cp . This page
hosts a trove of primary sources includ-
ing brochures, orders, speeches, and
webinars directly from the FAA. This is
your straight-from-the-source hub for
the Compliance Program.
This page includes basic informa-
tion on many aspects of the program that can be read in just a few minutes.
For those interested in a deeper dive, try the resources section. It
offers everything from a brochure to
package up all that info in an easily shareable and digestible format, to presentations and speeches that give you more details about the program
and its initial implementation.
Another area worth checking out
is the Compliance Program Articles, Webinars, and Other Materials link.
While you could consider our mate-
rial somewhere between a primary
source (all articles are reviewed by FAA subject matter experts for
accuracy) and a secondary source,
there are several external articles as well. These articles reporting on
the program give you a good feel
for how a wide variety of audiences
learned about this change. There’s a
good value here in that you can get an independent view and analysis of
the policy from people with no direct
stake in the process.
While you’re there, and if you’re
more of a visual learner, you can check out a series of recorded webi-
nars and videos that were produced
around the time of the program’s launch by external stakeholders
like the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association (AOPA). This allows you
to absorb the information and refine
your search. Then you can dive into the other documents or even ask a
question via the Compliance Program
Stakeholder Feedback link at the bottom of the landing page.
It's important to ask those ques-
tions or provide feedback. Y ou are
the stakeholder. A cultural transfor -
mation like the Just Culture one that
the Compliance Program is based
on requires everyone to participate
in order to reach its goal of a safer
aviation world.
James Williams is FAA Safety Briefing’s associate editor and
photo editor. He is also a pilot and ground instructor.IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO
UNDERSTAND THE COMPLIANCE PROGRAM, FAA ORDER
8000.373C IS THE BEST
STARTING POINT FOR A HIGH-LEVEL OVERVIEW.
24 FAA Safety Briefing
DRONE DEBRIEF drone safety roundupREBEKAH WATERS
SRM FOR EVERYONE
I tend to leap before I look. I’ve been
this way all my life. I often find myself
scrambling to catch my drink before
it spills or swerve my grocery cart
aside as I turn the corner of an aisle
at full speed almost colliding with an unsuspecting shopper. Luckily, I have
developed lightning-quick reaction
times. Quick reactions certainly come in handy during drone operations,
but when it comes to navigating the
National Airspace System (NAS), it
is always better to be proactive about
safety, rather than reactive. Safety risk management (SRM), one of the four
components of a safety management
system (SMS), helps you anticipate and mitigate risk before there’s a need
for quick reactions.
Who Needs SRM?
It is the FAA ’s job to identify hazards,
assess risk, and evaluate the effec-
tiveness of proposed risk mitigations
before making any decision regarding
the operation of drones in the NAS.
The agency uses an SRM process that analyzes the severity and likelihood of
hazards associated with these types of
decisions. Large organizations that use drones as a part of their daily business
often use an SRM process as part of
their SMS to build and support a sound
safety culture. But does the individual
drone operator or small business that occasionally operates drones need to use SRM? The short answer is yes.
SRM is a great tool to start with
and ensure your operations are as
safe as possible. SRM can help you
identify the risks and hazards you might encounter for every operation
you conduct. Rather than trying to
problem-solve on the fly, an SRM helps you proactively consider what
could go wrong and prepare a solution
ahead of time. Having a plan in place
not only keeps you and the NAS safer,
it also might make your operation more efficient and less stressful.
Developing Your Own SRM
While the FAA ’s SRM policy for
drones, Order 8040.6A, is 30 pages long, your assessments will most
likely be a lot shorter. When develop-
ing SRM for your operations, think about how you operate your drone. A
good SRM documents the common
hazards. These are typically technical
issues with a drone, human error,
deterioration of external systems, and adverse operating conditions.
The SRM should identify the mit-
igations to lower the risk to an acceptable level. For example, having
and adhering to weather limitations
is a mitigation to the adverse oper -
ating conditions hazard. Performing a preflight check is a mitigation for the technical issues with the drone
hazard. In other words, always have a
backup plan and backup systems.
What’s the most likely issue(s) you
may encounter on this flight? Is it human factors, weather, signal, drone
performance, or the sudden appear -
ance of low-flying aircraft from an
unexpected direction? Are there heli-
ports nearby where helicopter traffic
is to be expected? An ultralight base? If a link fails, do you have a lost link procedure and/or geofence? If the lost link always happens in the same loca-
tion, make a plan to avoid that location
in the future. When there are techni-cal issues or human errors with your
operation, stop, investigate, and correct
them. Make sure you have a plan for
system failures, like a backup display or
power source. A good SRM assessment helps you to remember not to test the
limits: weather, battery life, crew rest,
or your drone’s range. Good operators know how to fly, but great operators
know when they shouldn’t.
All drone operators can benefit from
SRM, and developing your own is a
good way to build safety culture into
your daily operations. As an emerging
technology, drones have a pretty good
safety record. SRM is one way to make
sure that doesn’t change! The more we work to proactively assess and mitigate
risk, the safer we can keep the NAS.
Rebekah Waters is an FAA Safety Briefing associate
editor. She is a technical writer-editor in the FAA’s Flight
Standards Service.
LEARN MORE
AC 120-92B, SMS for Aviation Service Providers
bit.ly/UASSMS
FAA Order 8040.6A,
UAS Safety Risk Management Policy
bit.ly/UASSRMWHILE THE FAA’S UAS SRM
POLICY , ORDER 8040.6A, IS 30 PAGES LONG, YOURS WILL MOST LIKELY BE A LOT SHORTER.
January/February 2024 25
NUTS, BOL TS, AND ELECTRONS GA maintenance issuesREBEKAH WATERS
CHECK YOURSELF
As I’m writing this, it’s Wednesday
morning, the day after Halloween.
I had trouble unwinding after last
night’s festivities and didn’t get to
bed on time, so I’m sipping a mug of
strong coffee. On autopilot, I open my emails and start skimming the
subject lines like I do every morning.
This has been my morning routine for years now. Routines can be great,
but it’s important to make sure that
they don’t lead to complacency.
Brian Tracy, motivational speaker
and author, says, “complacency is the enemy of success. ” When it comes to
aircraft maintenance, complacency is
the enemy of safety! The Maintenance Personal Minimums Checklist is one tool that can help ward off com-
placency, make safety the primary
objective, and maybe even make your
job a little easier.
Developed in the late 1990s
by FAASTeam member Richard Mileham, the Maintenance Personal
Minimums Checklist is an import-ant risk management tool. Its name,
inspired by the Personal Minimums
Worksheet for pilots, is a bit of a
misnomer since it is more like a con-
densed version of a code of conduct for mechanics. The list, which is avail-
able in pocket size or slightly larger,
includes items to consider before and
after performing a task. The
FAA recommends keeping one
handy, where you can see it, like
near a toolbox or workbench,
and use it for each task you perform.
Before the Task
One of the top causes of com-
placency is doing repetitive tasks on a continual basis without
incident. As a writer, the stakes
are lower, and most of my tasks are varied and new. But for
mechanics, complacency is a real
hazard. This checklist will help
mitigate the risks that compla-
cency creates. It reminds you to consider crucial questions like,
“ Am I physically prepared to
perform the task?” before you
get started. Taking a minute to
review and answer each question in this section of the checklist
honestly before you begin any
task can help you avoid a sense of overconfidence — another part
of complacency — that could
lead to careless mistakes. After the Task
Once you’ve completed the task, refer
to the list again. Check each of these
equally crucial questions to make sure
the aircraft is safe for flight. Questions like, “Did I perform the job task
without pressures, stress, and distrac-
tions?” will help you double-check
your own work. Y ou might think
that you will always know to check in with yourself on questions like, “ Am I
willing to fly in the aircraft once it is
approved for the return to service?” but the checklist ensures a safety baseline
every single time you perform a task.
Even if you’ve completed this task hun-
dreds of times — especially if you’ve
completed this task hundreds of times — it’s critical to take a moment and
check your work. The checklist will
help you mitigate the risks that crop up
when complacency sets in.
A PDF copy of the FAA ’s Maintenance
Personal Minimums Checklist is
available at bit.ly/MaintenanceHangar
or you can reach out to your local
FAASTeam Program Manager for
hardcopies. If you’re still not sold on the
idea that you need to use this checklist,
just remember, the work you do impacts
lives, not just machinery.
Rebekah Waters is an FAA Safety Briefing associate
editor. She is a technical writer-editor in the FAA’s Flight
Standards Service.
LEARN MORE
Checklist Compliance: Your “To-Do” List for
Aviation Maintenance, FAA Safety Briefing, Jan/Feb 2016, Page 27
bit.ly/FAASB2016
To find your FAASTeam Program Manager
go to the FAASTeam Online Directory: bit.ly/FAASTeamDirectory
26 FAA Safety Briefing
VERTICALLY SPEAKING safety issues for rotorcraft pilotsGENE TRAINOR
PREFLIGHT PLANNING GETS SAFETY BOOST WITH FAA WEATHER CAMS
Safety-conscious pilots know that
checking weather reports is part of
any good preflight preparation. But
even weather reports (e.g., METAR,
TAF) cannot always capture the sever -
ity of weather at a particular location.
That’s why FAA weather cameras
can play such a critical safety role in
preflight planning by providing near real-time visual weather information
for go, no-go decision-making.
The FAA Weather Camera
Program (WCAM) provides pilots
with near real-time visual weather data at airports, mountain passes,
and other strategic locations along
air routes and areas with elevated accident rates. The WCAM images,
paired with available textual weather
information, provide a powerful tool
to aid in flight decision-making. The
program began in Alaska in 1999 after the FAA determined that pilots oper -
ating under visual flight rules would benefit from actual views of current
weather conditions.
Today, the FAA provides over 600
camera sites to the aviation public throughout the United States with 230
FAA sites in Alaska. Another esti-mated 360 cameras operate in North
America as third-party systems, such
as those installed by NAVCanada and
the states of Colorado and Montana.
FAA weather camera images are
updated every 10 minutes, and there are multiple camera views available at
each location.
“Our mission is to improve avia-
tion safety and efficiency within the NAS [National Airspace System] and
reduce weather-related accidents
and flight interruptions, ” says FAA Weather Camera Program manager
Cohl Pope. “We do that by getting a
near real-time picture of the weather
into the pilot’s hands prior to flying. ” The program’s safety impact has
been outstanding. Weather-related aircraft accidents dropped 85% in
Alaska between 2007 and 2014 as 140
new FAA weather camera sites were
added throughout the state, accord-ing to a MITRE study. The study
also reported that the number of
disrupted hours — when a pilot flies out and then turns around because
of weather — dropped from 13,588
hours in 2008 to 5,129 hours in 2014,
a 62% reduction.
With that success, Pope states the
FAA plans to add 160 new camera sites throughout the continental
United States and Alaska through fiscal year 2030. “Hawaii has been a
particular focus area because of tour
helicopter accidents, ” he says. "In
response to a National Transportation
Safety Board recommendation, 19 camera locations have been imple-
mented in Hawaii, with a total of 26
planned for the state by the end of the
next fiscal year, ” Pope adds.
The United States Helicopter Safety
Team (USHST), a government- industry safety group, announced its
support for the FAA weather camera effort and advocated for its expan-
sion during a summit in September
2023 at the Helicopter Association
International headquarters in
Alexandria, Va.
Pilot and USHST Co-Chair Chris
Baur said he uses the cameras when he flies helicopters.
“In comparing current images
with clear day images that contain known distances, it is reasonable to
determine visibilities, [approximate]
distances, and cloud heights, ” says Baur. “The FAA, industry, and the
National Weather Service should work
collaboratively to create training to use
weather cameras effectively, supporting both go and no-go decision-making by
pilots and dispatchers. ”
Baur also states that “the FAA must
develop a comprehensive plan to
create an impactful, realistic network
of cameras in the contiguous 48 states, beyond the planned 160 new cameras. ”
One way the FAA is working
towards expanding the number of camera sites is with cost-reimbursable
agreements with several state govern-
ments. Under these agreements, the
weather camera program shares the
design and technology for operating the cameras while the states install,
own, and maintain the camera systems.
A recent example of expansion
occurred last year in Maine where the FAA began hosting 18 camera
sites with plans to add more.
LifeFlight of Maine, which provides
medevac service to the state, owns and maintains the camera sites. Josh
Dickson, LifeFlight’s director of avia-
tion services, said his goal is to have
a camera at every airport in the state
and at a few of the “pinch points” over higher terrain.
“We need to be able to see if
a runway has been plowed, ” says
Dickson. “Is there a moose standing in
the middle of the runway? Is there pre-
cipitation not showing up on the radar?
Our cameras can tell us all of that. ”
In addition to expanding in
more states throughout the U.S., the weather camera program is also researching technological improve-
ments that will introduce 360-degree
camera capabilities.
Pilots can access the FAA weather
camera system at weathercams.faa.gov .
If you have any thoughts on how to
advance aviation safety with weather
camera technology, or would like to suggest a camera site location, please
email WCAMExp@faa.gov .
January/February 2024 27
FLIGHT FORUM letters from the Safety Briefing mailbag
Check out our GA Safety
Facebook page at
Facebook.com/groups/
GASafety
If you’re not a member, we encour -
age you to join the group of more than 16,000 participants in the GA community who share safety principles and best practices, participate in positive and safe
engagement with the FAA Safety
Team (FAASTeam), and post rel-evant GA content that makes the
National Airspace System safer.
To Err is Human
Thanks for the article “Fly the
Aircraft First” [bit.ly/47D90Bq]. It is
interesting to me, a 12-years retired aviation safety inspector of 30 years,
to watch Y ouTube videos of pilots in
other countries without the specific
guidance [to] deal with all kinds of
non-critical items, including chatting with non-essential cockpit visitors in
flight during critical phases of flight.
I know many of us sometimes think our way is the best way, but in this
case, I think it is. Paying attention to
the details is critical because when
those “uh oh … ” moments pop up —
and they can pop up very quickly or very slowly — everyone’s brain must
be fully engaged.
— James
Hi James. Thank you for reading and
for sharing your thoughts! We agree
that human factors play a vital role in
aviation safety. Human factors inform
hardware and software that leverage
our strengths and weaknesses, but pilot training is our first defense to avoiding
an incident or accident. That’s why the
FAA recently launched new training focused on safety culture, human per -
formance, communication, teamwork, situational awareness, decision-mak-ing, threat and error management,
human information processing, and
design and automation. These courses,
available on FAASafety.gov, aim to
provide pilots with the information necessary to minimize risk when it
comes to human error and help keep
the national airspace system safe.
We think you’ll find this training inter -
esting and informative even if you no
longer fly. Check out the ATIS section
in this issue for additional information
on taking the courses. Thank you for
being an advocate for safety!
From the
FAA’s YouTube Page
Planes & Posts
The third video of the Safe Air
Charter series, “Posting Y our Aircraft
on Social Media” [bit.ly/47nQE78]
discusses protecting your pilot certifi-cate and keeping social media activity
safe and legal. The video highlights
the importance for pilots to be aware
that anything in the public view,
including videos, photos, and social media posts, may be viewed by the
FAA and used in enforcement actions.
One viewer shared their appreciation
for the information on the topic:
I want to extend my appreciation
to the FAA for creating informative
videos like this. They help pilots like me
understand what we can and cannot do when it comes to social media posts.
Learning from past experiences, I
realize the significance of being careful with what we share. I believe more
organizations, such as the FAA or
AOPA, should produce similar videos
to educate pilots on what to post and
what to avoid. This knowledge would greatly benefit us. While I wish this ini-
tiative had started earlier in the 2010s
when I began my aviation career, I'm still grateful for it now. I applaud your
efforts and look forward to more videos
on how to be smart with social media
postings in aviation. Focusing on Phraseology
A recent video in the FAA ’s From the
Flight Deck series [bit.ly/3FYZgFX]
discusses phraseology and what you might encounter when operating on
the surface of an airport or prepar -
ing to land. The video covers ground
terminology, including standby; go
ahead; hold short; monitor; taxi up to and hold short; continue; and line
up and wait. It also reviews airborne
phrases like cleared to land; cleared
low approach; cleared for the option;
go around; and continue. Viewers posted positive phrases in response to
the informative video:
THIS is the stuff the FAA should focus
more on. Back to the ROOTS! Simple,
to the point, helpful stuff for aviators.
Awesome real-world footage and great example audios, this is brilliantly put
together. Do MORE LIKE THIS!
This is one of the best and most import-
ant videos you have ever produced!
When properly used it can avoid errors
or worse. Thanks.
Clear, concise, and immediately useful.
Very well intended and executed.
Thank you for making content that will
help us be safer without getting bogged down in legalese.
For more stories and news,
check out our new blog
“Cleared for Takeoff” at medium.com/FAA .
Let us hear from you! Send your
comments, suggestions, and questions
to SafetyBriefing@faa.gov . You can
also reach us on X (formerly known
as Twitter) @FAASafetyBrief or on
Facebook at facebook.com/FAA.
We may edit letters for style and/or
length. Due to our publishing schedule,
responses may not appear for several
issues. While we do not print anonymous
letters, we will withhold names or send
personal replies upon request. If you have a concern with an immediate FAA
operational issue, contact your local Flight
Standards Office or air traffic facility.
28 FAA Safety Briefing
TOM HOFFMANN
A SAFE PLACE FOR SAFETY
One of the key benefits of the
Compliance Program as part of a risk
management strategy, and as noted
in FAA Order 8000.373C, is its ability
to “foster an open and transparent
exchange of comprehensive safety data between the FAA and aero-
space communities. ” We see this take
place in several different formats, most notably via the Aviation Safety
Reporting System (ASRS) or “NASA
report, ” where airmen are encour -
aged to report safety issues that they observe or are involved with, in a non-punitive environment. With
ASRS, the FAA gets to collect helpful
deidentified data on the occurrence, while airmen glean the benefit of
learning from others’ mistakes.
Consider subscribing to the ASRS
Callback newsletter (asrs.arc.nasa.
gov), which puts an interesting educa-
tional twist on submissions.
Another similar, but much less formal
vehicle is the FAA ’s General Aviation Safety Facebook group at facebook.com/
groups/GASafety . We regularly promote
it in this magazine’s Flight Forum
department where we discuss reader
feedback and comments. The group was started in 2018 and has grown to more
than 16,000 active members.
As noted in the GA Safety Facebook
group’s description, its goal is to:
... reduce the nation’s GA accident
rate by building a community on
Facebook where safety principles and practices can be shared through pos-
itive public engagement between the
FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) and
GA community. This is a safe place
to talk about aviation safety. ... All
members are encouraged to join in on the discussions and post relevant
GA content that makes the National
Airspace System (NAS) safer.
Those who wish to participate in
this group must answer a few questions to assess their interest in GA and abide by the group’s rules. I should point
out that number one on that list of
rules is a reference to the Compliance
Program, which explains that the FAA
will not use safety discussions posted to the group for any enforcement
action. This is designed to support
an open and transparent exchange of information with mutual cooperation
and trust between the FAA and you.
We believe this policy contributes
to us seeing regular examples of pilots
sharing lessons learned within the posts. One that stands out occurred
last May when a contributor to the
Facebook group relayed a harrowing
and sobering experience during a
$100 hamburger flight with his kids. After a change in winds prompted
a go-around at his destination, the
pilot admitted that he had forgotten to retract the flaps and was perilously
close to the ground before he real-
ized his mistake. Contributing to this
lack of climb performance was the
high-density altitude environment where he was operating.
Thankfully, with flaps now
retracted and airspeed increasing, the aircraft climbed to safety and the
pilot and his family returned home
without a scratch. In a moving video
recapping the event, the pilot reflects on what he believes went wrong:
being complacent and being unfamil-
iar with go-arounds in an airplane
he wasn’t used to flying. He admitted that practicing or at least briefing a
go-around procedure before landing
would have helped him zero in on
the flaps. He advocated for others to
learn from his error.
In usual fashion, the Facebook
group rallied around this contributor with support and gratitude for sharing
his mistake. Some even provided
examples of similar mistakes they had made. Y ou don’t have to search
for long on the group before seeing
various other scenarios and mea culpas from pilots eager to have their
fellow aviators learn from and avoid.
Incidentally, the group is also a
good place to get the scoop on indus-
try updates and events, GA news, FAA educational resources, and maybe
even do some virtual hangar flying
with a few like-minded aviators.
If you haven’t already, consider
having a look at this Facebook group along with some of the other volun-
tary reporting programs out there.
Who knows? Y our story may very well inspire someone else or even save
their life. ON FINAL an editor's perspective
Scan here to join the GA Safety Facebook Group.
FAA FACESPAUL CIANCIOLO
DAVID KARALUNAS & CRISTY MINNIS
FAA Safety and Compliance Team
Sometimes, things don’t go as planned.
Mistakes happen, but punishing
someone for those mistakes doesn’t always fix the problem. At the FAA,
we have a shared responsibility with
aviators to find and fix safety problems
together. That’s where our Safety and
Compliance Team works to ensure our Compliance Program policy is effective
and backed by data. Here’s a quick dive
into two integral team members — both with aviation in their blood since
a young age and married to pilots.
David Karalunas is the team’s policy
lead. He grew up near the Lake Hood
Seaplane Base in Anchorage, Alaska, and often listened to air traffic calls
on his multiband radio. His first foray
into flight was at the controls of a Piper PA-14 floatplane when he was nine.
“When I was 14, I got a 92% on the
private pilot knowledge exam, took
an evening instrument ground school
class at the local community college when I was 16, and soloed when I was
17, ” explains David.
Though money was an imme-
diate limiting factor, David even-tually earned his wings in college.
He attended the Spartan College of
Aeronautics and Technology in Tulsa,
Okla., and received his private pilot and airframe and powerplant (A&P)
certificates. At the time, entry-level
mechanic jobs were more lucrative
than entry-level pilots, so David chose
the maintenance path. He worked on twin piston and turboprop commut-
ers before a decade of maintaining
helicopters as he worked his way up to chief inspector for an Army contractor
and director of maintenance for two
14 CFR part 135 helicopter operators.
After a brief stint teaching at a part 147
school, David answered the call to pub -
lic service and joined the FAA in 2001.
“Since the team’s inception and
before the actual Compliance Program rollout, I’ve been the lead policy writer, ”
he notes. “Because we have a shared
responsibility to find and fix safety
problems together, open, transparent
communication and collaboration are key to preventing them from reoccur -
ring, which is the basis for our policy. ”
David also notes that the biggest
challenge in general aviation (GA)
is managing our behavior as indi-
viduals. Without a formal support
system, like with commercial avia-
tion, the GA aviator is responsible for developing their own personal safety
management practices.
He adds that one of the improve-
ments in the last two years has been efforts to measure the effectiveness
of the Compliance Program. We
have enough data now to see that
relapse is very low after the use of a compliance action.
Measuring the different aspects
of the Compliance Program is the
responsibility of Cristy Minnis, who
serves as the management and pro-gram analyst on the team.
Cristy grew up in Moore, Okla.,
fascinated by the old F-14 and P-51 fighter aircraft that flew yearly at the local air show. Her husband is a pilot, and together, they own a Taylorcraft
and are building a Piper Cub with
plans to explore backcountry airstrips
throughout the country.
Cristy joined the FAA right out
of college and applied her bachelor’s
degree in experimental psychology to human factors research at the agen-
cy’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI). The recommendation came
from her professor when the FAA was
looking for someone who could inter -
pret physiological data, which put her on the perfect course to pair with her love of aviation.
“The experience that I gained in
college and at CAMI ignited a career-
long pursuit of digging into data to
see what valuable information it holds and how it can be used to help others, ”
explains Cristy. “We want to work
with pilots and mechanics on under -
standing why the mistake happened
and put practices in place to keep it
from reoccurring. The Compliance
Program has increased trust, commu-
nication, and collaboration between the FAA and the GA community. ”
With drones, vertical lift aircraft,
and commercial space operators entering the scene, our airspace
is becoming more complex. Both
personal risk management and vol-
untary reporting of safety issues are
now more critical than ever. David and Cristy are working together to
advance those initiatives and ensure the future of NAS safety.
Paul Cianciolo is an associate editor and the social media
lead for FAA Safety Briefing. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran
and an auxiliary airman with Civil Air Patrol. David Karalunas and his friend Randy.Cristy MinnisFAA employee profile
U.S. Department
of Transportation
Federal Aviation
Administration
800 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20591
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and social media influencer
@pic_gillian
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