Flight Operations Quality Assurance Research Articles

Safety Risk Analysis in Flight Operations Quality Assurance

Flight data recorded by Quick Access Recorder (QAR) is gradually used to analyze pilot's operations quality, especially for the QAR exceedances. In this paper, we use the values of flight parameters to construct the state-space of pilots’ operations. A flight is seen as a point in it. Basing on the distributions of normal flights and flights triggering an exceedance, risk analysis is carried out to divide this state-space into dangerous and safety regions. A multi-objective programming is established to analyze the safety risk in pilot's operations and we use Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to find the boundaries of regions-of-interest. The feasibility of this method is validated through experiments with real flight data.

Leveraging Information to Support Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance

Leveraging Information to Support Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance

Classification of Air Force Aviation Accidents: Mishap Trends and Prevention

This article reanalyzed 124 U.S. Air Force aviation mishaps from 1992 through 2005, using the Department of Defense Human Factors Analysis and Classification System. Mishap types included controlled flight into terrain, loss of control, spatial disorientation, and midair collisions. All accidents were linked with supervisory errors related to proficiency and experience factors. Preconditions to unsafe acts were most frequently related to cognitive, psychobehavioral, and coordination, communication, and planning factors. Continued improvements in operational risk assessment and crew resource management are suggested, as well as interventions such as flight operations quality assurance and line-oriented safety audits to specifically focus latent error mitigation strategies.

Error Prevention as Developed in Airlines

The airline industry is a high-risk endeavor. Tens of thousands of flights depart each day carrying millions of passengers with the potential for catastrophic consequences. To manage and mitigate this risk, airline operators, labor unions, and the Federal Aviation Administration have developed a partnership approach to improving safety. This partnership includes cooperative programs such as the Aviation Safety Action Partnership and the Flight Operational Quality Assurance. It also involves concentrating on the key aspects of aircraft maintenance reliability and employee training. This report discusses recent enhancements within the airline industry in the areas of proactive safety programs and the move toward safety management systems that will drive improvements in the future.

General Aviation Aircraft Flight Operations Quality Assurance: Overcoming the Obstacles

This describes the initiative to introduce a capable yet affordable Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) program into the general aviation industry. A brief overview of the FOQA concept is given along with a historical perspective to the evolution of such programs. Initial development of a FOQA program for general aviation by the Center for Sensors and Sensor Systems at Saint Louis University is introduced herein. A brief discussion of the obstacles in developing such a system is presented, as well as strategies for overcoming these obstacles. The system consists mainly of a quick access recorder (QAR) that is conceived to be a stand-alone, non-intrusive system that collects parametric flight data, a preprocessor system to analyze initial data sets and validate their use, and post-processor software used in the analysis of available flight parameters. The program concepts are presented for initial determination of the needs and possibilities, and examples are presented along with flight data collected in the University's fleet of aircraft.

Integration of the SHEL Model with the Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) Program

The SHEL Model has been used to explore relationships between liveware, environmental, hardware and software factors. This study attempts to integrate Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) program data with the SHEL model. Aircraft record data that can be used to monitor the human interface within the entire system, plus identify faults and potential failures within the system before a major accident or incident occurs. These data have existed for over four decades, and FOQA offers a way to both analyze and act upon them. The relationships between the SHEL model and FOQA data can help to ensure our nation’s skies are the safest and most efficient in the world.