Re: American Airlines safety program ends amid bickering wit
ASAP is established via a three-way Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the FAA, the Company, and the union. It takes all three parties willing to work together in order to have a successful program.
I won't go into details, but a well run ASAP program should bring in and keep all inadvertant errors (Uh, like if you put in 5000' in your ALT SEL when the Jepp plate for the sid shows 4000'. Ask me how I know these things
) as a learning experience instead of a punitive experience.
What are the benefits of ASAP? I will only touch on the few I can come up with off the top of my head:
1) Provide a safe envrionment to disclose and evaluate errors made. Who in their right mind would admit to, or discuss the circumstances of, an error they made if it resulted in punitive action? All issues brought into the ASAP program are maintained in the program. All corrective action remains in the bounds of the ASAP program and the results will not follow pilots on the PRIA program.
2) Trend analysis. Why is this important? The information derived allows evaluation of the standardization of the pilot group, analysis of company procedures, effectiveness of the training program (of course adding in the checking portion of the training program. While we all can have a bad day, a checkride really evaluates the effectiveness of the instructors and the training program), issues with ATC and other issues affecting safety of flight.
For example if there are 10 altitude deviations month after month, should one individual pilot be held accountable if it is a systemic error with the procedures or culture? With out the trend analysis of ASAP, all the CP sees are alot of altitude deviations sliding across his desk, pissing him off, and out come the memos. Using the trend analysis and reports, it was found that the procedures written caused the deviations due to an awkwardly worded procedure.
3) In extreme cases, which are few and far between, pilots can even be retrained in the program. Most of the issues I have been involved in would have been a suspension and back on the line instead of a retraining event furthering that pilot's professional development.
The above three points illustrate how ASAP can be effective developing the much talked about, but historically, weakly implemented safety culture in an airline.
It supplements the ASRS system, as all reports included ultimately end up as "NASA Reports" adding to that data group as well, benefitting all pilot groups.
As we all know, a safer a pilot group is, the safer the flying public is. The data is there to analyze.