Pilot admits he fell asleep while flying
Falling asleep at the controls, landing in the wrong country and near crashes with other aircraft.
They are some of the mistakes pilots reported on a website designed to help them and flight staff identify common errors and improve the quality of their service.
Each report on the NASArun Aviation Safety Reporting Program - which details more than 300,000 errors - is verified and published anonymously after being submitted by a flight crew, air traffic controllers or maintenance workers.
One report reads: "The bright sun shining in the windshield made the cockpit very warm and me very relaxed. The next thing I remember was being awakened by control calling me on the headset. I had fallen asleep, when I woke up I was descending. That is what control was calling me about."
The reports may appear scary but aviation safety experts said passengers should not worry.
A spokesman for the British Airline Pilots Association said: "Flying is still the safest way to travel and passengers have no need to worry.
"But pilot fatigue is an extremely worrying problem which is being made worse by new regulations from the European Union whereby pilots are flying longer hours with shorter breaks."
* The website is http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov.
Pilot admits he fell asleep while flying
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desksgo
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Those ASRS reports can often act like a "get out of jail, free" card.
Is anyone here up to speed on the concept of FOQA (flight operational quality assurance)? It's a process where, using a quick access recorder, numerous variables from every flight are taken from the aircraft's flight data recorder and analysed. This is the next step in aviation safety and just to go along with the post, NASA are the one's compiling the data down south. All of the data is deidentified and protected from use in prosecution. I think Air Canada is on board with it too, but all of their stuff is done in-house.
It's actually in greater use overseas, as Portugal was one of the first to start using it back in the early 60's. It's been saving euro airlines millions in maintenance, safety and efficiency for years.
It's pretty interesting stuff, if that's the kind of thing you find interesting
Is anyone here up to speed on the concept of FOQA (flight operational quality assurance)? It's a process where, using a quick access recorder, numerous variables from every flight are taken from the aircraft's flight data recorder and analysed. This is the next step in aviation safety and just to go along with the post, NASA are the one's compiling the data down south. All of the data is deidentified and protected from use in prosecution. I think Air Canada is on board with it too, but all of their stuff is done in-house.
It's actually in greater use overseas, as Portugal was one of the first to start using it back in the early 60's. It's been saving euro airlines millions in maintenance, safety and efficiency for years.
It's pretty interesting stuff, if that's the kind of thing you find interesting
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Panama Jack
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NASA's ASRS program, as you pointed out, is a "get out of jail free card." In the event that there was a regulatory violation and the FAA wishes to take action, they may still find that there was a violation, however, no civil penalty or certificate suspension is imposed if the violation was inadvertant and not deliberate, and the violation did not involve a criminal offense or accident.
Although a confidential reporting program does exist in Canada, it is regretful that it does not offer similar immunity.
Link to NASA ASRS Website
Most US professional pilots carry a few forms in their flight bags, and tend to file them if there is any doubt (it is confidental, and in the case that there was no violation, no problem-- but the safety information is invaluable).Pilots, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, mechanics, ground personnel, and others involved in aviation operations submit reports to the ASRS when they are involved in, or observe, an incident or situation in which aviation safety was compromised. All submissions are voluntary.
Reports sent to the ASRS are held in strict confidence. More than 600,000 reports have been submitted to date and no reporter's identity has ever been breached by the ASRS. ASRS de-identifies reports before entering them into the incident database. All personal and organizational names are removed. Dates, times, and related information, which could be used to infer an identity, are either generalized or eliminated.
The FAA offers ASRS reporters further guarantees and incentives to report. It has committed itself not to use ASRS information against reporters in enforcement actions. It has also chosen to waive fines and penalties, subject to certain limitations, for unintentional violations of federal aviation statutes and regulations which are reported to ASRS. The FAA's initiation, and continued support of the ASRS program and its willingness to waive penalties in qualifying cases is a measure of the value it places on the safety information gathered, and the products made possible, through incident reporting to the ASRS.
Although a confidential reporting program does exist in Canada, it is regretful that it does not offer similar immunity.
Link to NASA ASRS Website
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