The Foundation, often working with its advisory committees and/or international partners, develops and publishes special reports and white papers on safety-related topics of interest to the global aviation community. For example, recent topics have included safety system needs for future humanitarian uses of drones and safety in commercial passenger-carrying helicopter operations. These and other reports and papers not found elsewhere on our website can be accessed by clicking on the links below.
šNew Words for a New Era [10 pages, PDF]
This paper discusses a new lexicon and a shift to a highly automated aviation system model that will enable the aviation industry to develop and learn the science of managing ultra-large-scale automated systems with greater linguistic precision and collaborative safety across stakeholders.
2024 Safety Report [8 pages, PDF]
An analysis of data from the Foundationās Aviation Safety Network (ASN) database reveals that the industry continued to struggle with persistent safety issues in 2024, including turbulence- related accidents, runway incursions and excursions, and abnormal runway contact events.
The Intersection of Aviation and Insurance: Managing Risks in a Dynamic Environment [8 pages, PDF]
This white paper, which draws insights from a workshop organized by the Foundation and Gallagher Aerospace, explores the risk management approaches in the aviation industry and the insurance underwriting sector, highlighting their similarities, differences, and key concerns. The objective is to identify potential areas for collaboration to enhance safety and risk management practices.
Insights from Flight Safety Foundationās 2024 Forums: Strengthening Safety Culture and Managing Emerging Risks [10 pages, PDF]
The Foundation held a series of summits and forums around the world in 2024, each aiming to address the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of aviation safety. This paper synthesizes key themes, integrating insights from regional events, global collaboration efforts, Foundation thought leadership, and target discussions.
2024 Safety Forum Summary and Conclusions [11 pages, PDF]
The 2024 Safety Forum, which was held 19ā20 June 2024 at EUROCONTROL headquarters in Brussels, focused on what the aviation industry needs to do to strengthen its weather resilience. By focusing on weather risks and resilience management, the Safety Forum provided insights and strategies to enhance safety measures and reduce the likelihood of weather-related incidents and accidents. The Safety Forum is organized by Flight Safety Foundation in partnership with EUROCONTROL and the European Regions Airline Association.
The African Aviation Safety & Operations Summit, Summary and Recommendations [4 pages, PDF]
The African Airlines Association and Flight Safety Foundation jointly organized the inaugural African Aviation Safety and Operations Summit, which was held on May 15, 2024, in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. The one-day event, themed “Championing Africa Aviation Safety Together,” aimed to promote and improve safety standards within the African aviation sector. This document summarizes the summit discussions and recommendations.Ā
2023 Safety Report [16 pages, PDF]
An analysis of accident data from the Foundationās Aviation Safety Network (ASN) database reveals that 2023 was one of the safest years on record for commercial airline operations. The data show that there were zero fatal accidents involving commercial jet airliners in 2023. Additionally, the total number of accidents, including fatal and nonfatal events, fell to 94, compared to 121 in 2022. However, a number of high-profile incidents in 2023 and two accidents in early 2024 should serve as warning against complacency and an erosion of safety culture. The 2023 Safety Report can be downloaded by clicking on the link above and the accompanying interactive dashboard featuring ASN accident data is available here.
2023 Safety Forum Summary and Conclusions [8 pages, PDF]
The 2023 Safety Forum, which was held 7-8 June 2023 at EUROCONTROL headquarters in Brussels, focused on the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to ensure safe operations as the industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, sees the introduction of new technologies and players, and seeks to attract a new generation of personnel. The Safety Forum is organized by Flight Safety Foundation in partnership with EUROCONTROL and the European Regions Airline Association.Ā
Regulatorsā Obligations for Compliance and Safety in an Era of Sanctions [8 pages, PDF]
The purpose of this Foundation white paper is to outline the international regulatory obligations of countries that allow operators from countries under international sanctions to fly into or through their airspace. The paper also covers the oversight obligations of countries with carriers that continue to fly into the sanctioned states. The paper is available in multiple languages. Please click on the appropriate link below to download the paper.
IASMS Research Roadmap, Version 1, 2025-2040 [88 pages, PDF]
This document describes a long-term research roadmap for the In-Time Aviation Safety Management System (IASMS), looking at key research needs supporting the evolution of IASMS capabilities between now and 2045. It is a high-level roadmap, designed with the intent of providing readers with a broad understanding of the overall research landscape rather than any detailed research plans or maturation approaches. The Foundation expects to periodically update this document to reflect current community feedback as well as to incorporate changes in the status of research, development and implementation efforts. If youād like to provide feedback on this Roadmap or have other ideas to share with us regarding IASMS, please email us at Technical@flightsafety.org.
2022 Safety Report [10 pages, PDF]
The Foundation’s analysis of 2022 accident data drawn from the Aviation Safety Network’s global database revealed runway excursions, turbulence and ground damage as the most common accident types among airliners operating in passenger and cargo service. In releasing the report, the Foundation also launched an interactive dashboard featuring accident data and information from 2017 through 2022 that is searchable by a range of parameters. The dashboard can be accessed by clicking here.
2021 Safety Report Ā [8 pages, PDF]
A Flight Safety Foundation analysis of 2021 aircraft accident data identified a number of safety risks that need to be proactively mitigated. The purpose of this report, which is based on an analysis of data and information drawn from the Foundationās Aviation Safety Network database and an ongoing assessment of risks introduced by the pandemic, is to bring these issues to the attention of the operators, regulators and global aviation stakeholders.
Study of hostile events and State practices in regards to the use by civil aviation ofĀ airspace over conflict zones [74 pages, PDF]
Threats to civil aviation overflying conflict zones are a continuing concern of the Foundation. In 2020, as part of an inquiry commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Foundation conducted analyses of conflict zones, hostile events and State practices regarding the use by civil aircraft of airspace above conflict zones. This document. published in 2021, is a technical note summarizing some of the Foundationās findings and capabilities.
Looking to the Future: Safety System Needs for Humanitarian UAS Operations [7 pages, PDF]
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) continue to expand the effectiveness and outreach of humanitarian and public
organizations that provide disaster management and first responder services around the globe. Flight Safety Foundation reviewed these operations and postulated how use of autonomous and semi-autonomous UAS would be
employed in the future. We looked at a number of humanitarian scenarios to better understand the current and future safety risk management needs for these operations to better inform near- and long-term planning for the safety systems that will allow these operations to evolve in both scope and complexity.
White Paper: Commercial, Passenger-Carrying Helicopter Operations Safety Ā [7 pages, PDF]
The helicopter industry, like much of aviation, has reduced fatal accidents over the past 20 years through a combination of better training, increased focus on high-risk operational issues and improvements in technology, among other reasons. But fatal crashes continue to happen with tragic regularity, including among small commercial passenger-carrying operations. Statistics show that for hire and taxi helicopter operations have a higher fatal accident rate than the industry has as a whole. It is clear that more needs to be done to drive down helicopter accident rates, improve crash survivability and develop industry-wide improvements in managing aviation risk. It also is clear that there is no single solution. Instead a mix of short- and longer-term strategies involving operators, manufacturers, regulators and consumers is required to improve the industry’s safety performance. And there needs to be a sense of urgency. This paper focuses on the safety of commercial, passenger-carrying, visual flight rules (VFR) operations because of the potential risk these flights pose to the traveling public.Ā
Benefits Analysis of Space-Based ADS-B [38 pages, PDF]
The purpose of this report, published by Flight Safety Foundation in June 2016, is to provide an overview of the potential benefits of automaticĀ dependent surveillanceābroadcast (ADS-B) satellite-based navigation with space-basedĀ ADS-B networks in the context of the safety challenges of managing predicted air trafficĀ growth in commercial air transport over the next 20 years.
Head-Up Guidance System Technology ā A Clear Path to Increasing Flight Safety [29 pages, PDF]
This study conducted by the Flight Safety Foundation indicates that the use of head-up guidance system (HGS) technology could have prevented or positively influenced 38 percent of all commercial aircraft accidents that occurred over the past 13 years.
āHead-up Guidance Technology ā A clear path to increasing flight safety,ā examines the use of HGS technology in modern cockpits that are based on digital technology. Commissioned by Rockwell Collins, the report was derived through analysis performed by the Foundation on information from 983 commercial air carrier, business and corporate airline accidents during the 13-year period between 1995 and 2007.
Findings also indicated that the benefits of head-up guidance technology increased in accidents where the pilot was directly involved, such as take-off and landing and loss-of-control accidents. In take-off and landing, the likelihood of accident prevention is 69 percent when a plane is equipped with head-up guidance technology. During loss-of-control accidents, the likelihood of accident prevention is 57 percent.
Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Industry Risk Profile [64 pages, PDF]
On April 20, 2009, Flight Safety Foundation released a groundbreaking assessment that provides a comprehensive look at the risks facing the helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) industry. The Industry Risk Profile (IRP), developed by Aerosafe Risk Management, also provides a roadmap outlining proactive steps that the industry and regulators can follow in order to mitigate these risks.
Joint Resolution Regarding Criminalization of Aviation Accidents [5 pages, PDF]
The Foundation was one of the originators of a 2006 resolution condemning the growing tendency of law enforcement and judicial authorities to interfere with accident investigations and insisting that the primary consideration in an accident investigation should be āto determine the probable cause of and contributing factors in the accident, not to punish criminally flight crews, maintenance employees, airline or manufacturer executives, regulatory officials or air traffic controllers.ā
The Foundationās position consistently has been that criminal punishment of pilots, air traffic controllers and others for inadvertent mistakes that lead to accidents does nothing to improve safety; instead, the fear of criminal prosecution discourages the sharing of accident-related information. The Foundation recognizes, however, that punishment is appropriate in cases in which an accident or incident was caused by intentional misconduct or especially reckless actions.
In addition to its campaign against criminalization of accidents, the Foundation has fought against prosecutorial actions and civil lawsuits aimed at winning the court-ordered disclosure of confidential information gathered through flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) programs.