An Aggregated Evaluation and Multi-dimensional Comparison Method of Flight Safety Based on QAR Data

Abstract

Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) based on Quick Access Recorder (QAR) data plays a critical role in modern civil aviation risk management. The current flight safety monitoring program in China still mainly focuses on the detection of deviations of monitored items from specific limits and the occurrence of specific safety events. In this paper, we propose an aggregated evaluation and multi-dimensional comparison method of flight safety based on QAR data. The new method has two novel features. First, it provides an aggregated risk index of potential safety events which combines a group of related monitoring items. Second, it gives us a unified framework of multi-dimensional risk comparison among airlines, airports, flight routes, aircraft types etc. across different time sections. This work has great application potential in comprehensive flight safety evaluation and comparison.