OVERTALK
10th Sep 2003, 23:04
The FAA has unilaterally decided to redefine aviation safety, claiming that accident and fatality data is often misleading (and now of no real use because of the dearth of accidents and the large death tolls associated with each - which tend to distort statistics and deceive one as to the nature of any safety deficiency).
One could interpret that as objectionably saying that a TWA800 or SR-111 event is a unitary accident and no different to a GA fatality - or one could see merit in not quantifying accidents in terms of deaths but more in numerical terms of meaningful and indicative "events".
News of this development came out rather low-key (and abstractedly) in the
"FAA Flight Plan"
(.49mb pdf file) (http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/belfast/FAAsafetyindex/FAADraftFlightPlan2003_2008.pdf)
and has been further expanded upon in Safety Index Documentation (an MSWord document) (http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/belfast/FAAsafetyindex/Safety%20Index%20Documentation%206%20Aug.doc)
and its associated (MSExcel) spreadsheet:
"FAA Flight Plan"-data (http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/belfast/FAAsafetyindex/Arnie-Safety Index.xls)
It is to say the least a very "different" approach to defining accident and incident statistics. I for one would be very
interested in any informed views. You can email me at webmaster at iasa.com.au - or just post here.
Overtalk
One could interpret that as objectionably saying that a TWA800 or SR-111 event is a unitary accident and no different to a GA fatality - or one could see merit in not quantifying accidents in terms of deaths but more in numerical terms of meaningful and indicative "events".
News of this development came out rather low-key (and abstractedly) in the
"FAA Flight Plan"
(.49mb pdf file) (http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/belfast/FAAsafetyindex/FAADraftFlightPlan2003_2008.pdf)
and has been further expanded upon in Safety Index Documentation (an MSWord document) (http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/belfast/FAAsafetyindex/Safety%20Index%20Documentation%206%20Aug.doc)
and its associated (MSExcel) spreadsheet:
"FAA Flight Plan"-data (http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/belfast/FAAsafetyindex/Arnie-Safety Index.xls)
It is to say the least a very "different" approach to defining accident and incident statistics. I for one would be very
interested in any informed views. You can email me at webmaster at iasa.com.au - or just post here.
Overtalk