Since its founding in 1945, Flight Safety Foundation has led the way in critical safety initiatives that have saved countless lives. The following are among the major efforts.
Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid
The latest Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid, Revision 2, and its companion, “High Altitude Operations: Supplement #1” to the Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid, together present high altitude aerodynamics and safe flight techniques for almost all jet airplanes that routinely operate in the high altitude environment above Flight Level 250 (approximately 25,000 ft).
- Approach and Landing Accident Reduction (ALAR)
- Approach and landing accident reduction (ALAR) has long been among the primary goals of the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF).The international FSF ALAR Task Force published its report in 1998 and the task force’s work, and the subsequent safety products and international workshops on the subject, have helped reduce the risk of ALAs — but the accidents still occur. In 2009, of 17 major accidents, nine were ALAs, compared with 19 and eight the previous year.
- Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)
- Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) persisted as the world’s second leading cause of commercial aviation fatalities as of 2008. Flight Safety Foundation first helped bring the issue clarity and resources in the early 1990s, when it was the accident type that killed more people than any other in the industry. The FSF-led international CFIT Task Force, created in 1992, set as its five-year goal a 50 percent reduction in CFIT accidents.
- Functional Check Flights (FCF)
A number of accidents and serious incidents have highlighted the higher risk associated with conducting functional check flights (FCF). In 2011, the Flight Safety Foundation–led FCF steering team, comprising Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer, organized a highly successful symposium to discuss the challenges to be addressed and current best practices for conducting functional check flights. The FCF team subsequently created the Functional Check Flight Compendium, which contains information that can be used to reduce the risk of functional check flights. - Global Aviation Safety Network (GAIN)
GAIN originally was proposed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to learn about causal factors in accident chains by bringing together diverse groups in a voluntary, privately owned and operated global network of data collection and exchange systems. GAIN provided information on tools and processes to help safety decision makers identify, promote and support existing tools and processes. When FAA in 2007 ended its support for GAIN, Flight Safety Foundation stepped in to support distribution of the wide range of fine products developed by GAIN. - Global Safety Information Project (GSIP) Toolkits
The Global Safety Information Project (GSIP) toolkits are intended to help the global aviation community elevate its safety risk management capabilities and information sharing practices. To develop these toolkits, Flight Safety Foundation worked with a broad range of stakeholders from air navigation service providers (ANSPs), airline/aircraft operators, airports, manufacturers, maintenance organizations and regulators. Over a three-year period, the Foundation engaged with industry through several workshops, focus group sessions and conferences in over 15 countries. The Foundation also extended its global reach through a four-part webinar series and through the administration of multiple industry surveys. - Ground Accident Prevention (GAP)
Ramp accidents cost major airlines worldwide at least US$10 billion a year, the data indicates. These accidents affect airport operations, result in personnel injuries, and damage aircraft, facilities and ground-support equipment. The Foundation decided this was a safety threat that had to be answered. In 2003, the Foundation launched the Ground Accident Prevention (GAP) program in response. - Podcasts
Interviews with safety experts from around the industry on a range of topics of interest to aviation safety professionals. - Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit (RERR)
The toolkit, a product of the efforts of the Runway Safety Initiative members and a joint effort of FSF and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), provides an in depth analysis of runway excursion accident data, a compilation of significant risk factors, and provides recommendations for operators, pilots, airports, Air Traffic Management, Air Traffic Controllers and regulators to assist in addressing this challenge. - Runway Safety Initiative (RSI)
- The Runway Safety Initiative completed in 2009 the Global Plan for the Prevention and Mitigation of Runway Excursions, intensifying attention to this previously under-appreciated subset of runway safety issues. Comprehensive countermeasures address veer-offs, in which an aircraft goes off the side of a runway, and overruns, in which an aircraft runs off the end of a runway. Briefing notes emphasize stabilized approaches and reducing risk of flight crews landing long and fast, with a tailwind, on a contaminated runway.
- Threat and Error Management (TEM)
Threat and error management (TEM) is a systems approach to aviation safety originally developed by human factors researchers at the University of Texas. Seminar presentations, informational materials, and appeals to industry boards and safety groups comprise one aspect of executing on this strategy - Unreliable Airspeed (URA)
Historical and recent accidents and incidents have highlighted the risk associated with unreliable airspeed (URA) events. These events are normally transient in nature and can cause multiple, seemingly unrelated warnings and failures. The attached philosophy and guidelines are provided to assist in reducing the risks associated with URA events.