RR_NDB;
Re, "Air France is the first airline to have implemented a prevention system based on the analysis of recorded flight data."
No, it isn't. Their statement on the page to which the link is provided is incorrect and misleading and is spin. BOAC/BA was doing flight data analysis in the late fifites and pioneered the entire field and remains a leader today. BA today has the most enlightened and advanced FDM Program in the industry. I know some of the people involved in their work and we took many lessons from them and from QANTAS when developing our own program in 2000.
Many airlines are doing FDM/FDA/FOQA especially in the United States where FOQA is regulated and privacy of data supported in law.
It seems they are implementing one of the most important learning processes which is using pilot gatekeepers to contact crews to learn more about the circumstances of the events being seen. As may be imagined, such processes require a mature, trusting relationship which guarantees that recorded flight data will not be used against individual pilots for disciplinary or legal proceedings. Except for Asia, these enlightened approaches seem to be the norm in FDM Programs.
Management never does this work and do not have access to actual data due to conflicting priorites and trust, again except at BA where, I understand, FDM data is even shared with the regulator, (de-identified).
Perhaps BOAC or another PPRuNer can tell us more, but I wouldn't consider an implementation date of 1974 "late".
PJ2
Last edited by PJ2; 20th March 2012 at 17:45.