CAST Saftey Enhancements

1 September 2003

NARAST Meeting

23 - 25September 2003

CAST/JSSI Saftey Enhancements (SE),

Information extracted from the Detailed Implementation Plans (DIP’s)

Safety Enhancements Completed:

SE-1/AP 1.01 CFIT- Terrain Avoidance Warning System (TAWS)

Statement of Work: Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) - accidents, where a properly functioning aircraft under the control of a fully qualified and certificated crew is flown into terrain with no apparent awareness on the part of crew, could be substantially reduced or eliminated with the installation of TAWS equipment. Manufacturers of turbine aircraft and air carriers operating turbine aircraft under FAR Part 121 should install TAWS equipment on the entire U.S. air carrier fleet and establish procedures for its use.

Other Background Information

ICAO Amendment 27 to Annex 6, Part I effective 15 July 2002

6.15.4All turbine-engined aeroplanes of a maximum certificated take-off mass in excess of 5700kg or authorized to carry more than nine passengers, for which the individual certificate of airworthiness is first issued on or after 1 January 2004, shall be equipped with a ground proximity warning system which has a forward looking terrain avoidance function.

6.15.5From 1 January 2007, all turbine-engined aeroplanes of a maximum certificated take-off mass in excess of 5 700 kg or authorized to carry more than nine passengers, shall be equipped with a ground proximity warning system which has a forward looking terrain avoidance function.

6.15.6Recommendation. — All turbine-engined aeroplanes of a maximum certificated take-off mass of 5 700 kg or less and authorized to carry more than five but not more than nine passengers should be equipped with a ground proximity warning system which provides the warnings of 6.15.9 a) and c), warning of unsafe terrain clearance and a forward looking terrain avoidance function.

6.15.27 Recommendation.— From 1 January 2007 Aall pistonengined aeroplanes of a maximum certificated takeoff mass in excess of 5700 kg or authorized to carry more than nine passengers should shall be equipped with a ground proximity warning system which provides the warnings in 6.15.9 a) and c), warning of unsafe terrain clearance and a forward looking terrain avoidance function.

SE –2/AP 1.06 CFIT- Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

Statement of Work: All operators should have standard operating procedures/training manual/chapter. This manual/chapter should address all projected normal situations crews/company personnel will encounter. This manual will address: use of checklists, what each person’s responsibilities are, use of available equipment, and expected procedures to be used during preflight, taxi, take-off, climb, cruise, descent, approach, missed approach, landing, taxi and parking. Use of line crews to develop new procedures increase acceptance and understanding of these procedures. Standard operating procedures for any new equipment will be developed, published, and trained before any new equipment is used/installed. Operators will train proficiency in their SOP’s and crews will use published company SOP’s.

SE-3/AP 1.03 CFIT- Precision-Like Approach Implementation (“21st Century Instrument Approaches”) (Vertical Angles – PAI 1-7, 11),

Statement of Work: The purpose of this plan is to identify the means by which all flight crews can fly an appropriate stabilized vertical path to the runway end, for all instrument approach procedures, thereby reducing the possibility of a controlled flight into terrain accident. The Plan will direct or encourage the aviation community to:

Identify criteria for the development of appropriate stabilized continuous descent approach procedures to the runway end for all instrument approaches and air carrier aircraft types,
Address any changes necessary to ensure adequate training and certification of flight crews,
Address any changes necessary for certification and authorization of aircraft and procedures,
Take advantage of existing aircraft capabilities to improve approach and landing safety to the maximum extent practical, and
Transition to use of new and evolving aircraft capabilities that can further improve approach and landing safety at the earliest practical time.

In the interest of safety, the industry should discontinue the use of step-down or “dive-and-drive” Non-Precision* approach procedures as soon as, and wherever, possible. It should be made clear to all pilots and operators that the industry should, at the earliest possible date, develop procedures and train pilots to fly a stabilized continuous descent approach procedure. This would include procedures such as the constant rate descent that can be flown by all types of aircraft and use of the modern vertical navigation capability (VNAV) by some existing and most new aircraft types.

Further safety and operational enhancements can be achieved through the appropriate use of features and functionality available now or in the near future on the commercial aircraft fleet. Existing airplanes used in commercial operations worldwide have varying operational capabilities and limitations. These various capabilities should be utilized and the limitations accounted for. Various strategies must be developed and employed to improve the overall safety of approach operations.

The operational capabilities of the worldwide fleet may be represented as a continuum but, for the purpose of this project, the airplanes have been categorized as “Classic,” “Standard” and “Advanced.”

Classic airplanes - airplanes typically equipped with electro-mechanical flight instruments, basic navigation capability (i.e., VOR, DME, ADF and possibly first generation Inertial Navigation System (INS)).

Standard airplanes - airplanes with multi-sensor RNAV Flight Management Systems (FMS), Electronic Flight Instruments and Electronic Map Displays (the majority of airplanes produced during the past fifteen years).

Advanced airplanes - airplanes equipped similar to the Standard airplanes but with advanced navigation capabilities (e.g., GPS sensors and RNP) and possibly enhanced situation awareness systems such as Terrain Awareness Warning System [TAWS - a.k.a., E-GPWS].

The underlying strategy is to use the capabilities that are already available in the airplane to the greatest extent while creating operational benefits to encourage equipage with more capable functionality. All strategies need to be promulgated internationally if the full safety benefits are to be realized.

General (applies to all categories of instrument flight procedures)

Output 1: Develop criteria to support the inclusion of vertical angles on existing procedures.

Output 2: Develop NOS Charting Specs to depict angles and TCH:

Output 3: Update pilot and ATS information to explain the revised instrument procedures

Output 4: Develop a plan and initiate implementation for procedure production/revision to address criteria described above (e.g., start with Part 139 airports, runways>5000’, then all others), including:

Determine which vertical angle (vertical paths) and visual guidance slope indicators (VGSI) do not coincide, and revise the VGSI or specified path so that they do coincide.
Determine which instrument procedures do not accommodate a nominal 3 degree slope between FAF and Runway threshold + TCH. Move FAF altitude, adjust step-down constraints or fixes, or adjust descent angles, altitudes, or waypoint/fix/navaid locations as necessary so that the procedures can best provide for a continuous descent at an appropriate angle (above 3 degrees).
For every instrument approach, define an appropriate vertical angle and code it in the navigation database and depicted on the charts.

Ensure appropriate operational (i.e., pilot) input in the design of instrument procedures.
Conduct research necessary to determine human factors guidelines for design of instrument procedures.
Appropriately apply technology, including high precision terrain/obstacle databases and high speed automated procedure design tools, to produce instrument procedures in a more timely manner with less error.
Make greater use of electronic means to transmit and distribute instrument procedures.
Implement instrument procedure development priorities that reflect the needs of the entire aviation community. Priorities should be set at a national level with input from general, business, military and commercial aviation.
Instrument procedure program staffing and funding levels should accurately reflect the flight procedure workload, i.e. maintenance of current procedures, development/flight inspection of new three-dimensional RNAV procedures, and responding to special industry requests.
Deal effectively and proactively with private developers of instrument procedures.

Output 5: Develop a plan and initiate implementation for organizational processes to ensure that appropriate (developed in accordance with agreed-upon FAA standards and criteria) privately-developed “special” procedures are made available for public use (as public procedures or equivalent mechanism) in a timely manner.

Output 6: Crew Procedures/Training. Develop crew procedures and training program to promote new instrument procedures in lieu of existing procedures. The training and crew procedures should address current issues (examples: notifying the pilot when the aircraft reverts out of VNAV Path, the integrity of navigation database).

Output 7: Crew certification/qualification and checking: Develop standards for FAA evaluation of compliance with new training and procedures.

Non-Precision Approach with Vertical Angles (may apply to classic, standard or advanced airplanes)

Output 11: Crew Procedures/Techniques: Develop crew procedures/techniques to fly stabilized approach procedures that replace “dive and drive” procedures.

SE-9 CFIT - Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW) - ATS Issue

SE-10/AP 1.08 CFIT- Airline Proactive Safety Programs (FOQA & ASAP)

Statement of Work: Develop and implement a mutually agreed upon methodology to use de-identified Flight Operations and Quality Assurance (FOQA), and Aviation Safety Action Partnership (ASAP) information for the purpose of proactively identifying safety related issues and corrective actions. Key to the development and implementation of this project is to ensure that legislative, regulatory and contractual actions are taken which prevent misuse of information. Included in this development and implementation of proactive safety programs are the development of analytical tools which will enable the identification of system safety deficiencies and corrective actions.

SE-11/AP 1.05 CFIT- Implementation Plan for Training – CRM

Statement of Work: CRM training, standard operating procedures (SOPs), situation awareness, and CFIT prevention are closely linked. This project will reduce CFIT accidents by promoting comprehensive SOPs as a key element of every part 121 air carrier’s CRM training program. Under a related project, a template for comprehensive SOPs is being developed, including SOPs which

SE-12/AP 1.04 CFIT- Training - CFIT Prevention

Statement of Work: Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) - accidents are the leading cause of commercial aviation equipment loss and fatalities, worldwide. CFIT accidents could be substantially reduced if all air carriers operating under Part 121 and Part 142 training centers developed CFIT prevention training and procedures to be added to their approved training curriculums stressing position awareness and escape maneuvers in the event of a terrain warning indication.

SE-13 CFIT - Air Traffic Control (ATC) CFIT Training – ATS Issue

SE-14/AP 2.05 ALAR- Policies for ALAR (Safety Culture)

Statement of Work: The purpose of this project is to develop a strategy to promote a safety culture at each Part 121 air carrier specifically targeting approach and landing accident reduction (ALAR). Ensure that essential safety information generated by an airplane manufacturer and by the FAA is included in company operating manuals and in training programs for pilots and other appropriate employee groups. Teams within each air carrier would jointly develop manuals and training programs striving for the highest safety goals. The teams would further ensure that the content of those manuals would be rigorously followed in training programs and in day-to-day operations. It is recognized that rulemaking may be necessary to clarify existing requirements specifying the content and use of company operating manuals.

SE-15/AP 2.05 ALAR- Policies for ALAR (Safety Culture)

SE - 16/AP2.05 ALAR- Policies for ALAR (Safety Culture)

SE – 17 ALAR- Maintenance Procedures (Nose Landing Gear Struts) - Airworthiness

SE – 18 ALAR - Maintenance Procedures (Subcontractor Maintennce Guidance

Airworthiness

SE – 19 ALAR - Maintenance Procedures (Policy on MELs)

Airworthiness

SE – 20 ALAR - Maintenance Procedures (Directors of Safety internal survey)

Airworthiness

SE – 84 Uncontained Engine Failures (UEF)

Safety Enhancements agreed to by CAST –Most Ongoing:

SE – 4/AP1.03 CFIT - Precision-Like Approach Implementation “21st Century Instrument Approaches” (PAI-VSGI at renway ends – PAI 8), COMPLETED

Identify criteria for the development of appropriate stabilized continuous descent approach procedures to the runway end for all instrument approaches and air carrier aircraft types,
Address any changes necessary to ensure adequate training and certification of flight crews,
Address any changes necessary for certification and authorization of aircraft and procedures,
Take advantage of existing aircraft capabilities to improve approach and landing safety to the maximum extent practical, and
Transition to use of new and evolving aircraft capabilities that can further improve approach and landing safety at the earliest practical time.

Classic airplanes - airplanes typically equipped with electro-mechanical flight instruments, basic navigation capability (i.e., VOR, DME, ADF and possibly first generation Inertial Navigation System (INS)).

Standard airplanes - airplanes with multi-sensor RNAV Flight Management Systems (FMS), Electronic Flight Instruments and Electronic Map Displays (the majority of airplanes produced during the past fifteen years).

Advanced airplanes - airplanes equipped similar to the Standard airplanes but with advanced navigation capabilities (e.g., GPS sensors and RNP) and possibly enhanced situation awareness systems such as Terrain Awareness Warning System [TAWS - a.k.a., E-GPWS].

General (applies to all categories of instrument flight procedures)

Output 8: Develop a plan and initiate implementation to install VGSI at each runway end used by air carriers (priority for highest risk runways).

SE – 6/AP1.03 CFIT - Precision-Like Approach Implementation “21st Century Instrument Approaches” (PAI-RNAV 3-D instrument approach – PAI 13-22),

Statement of Work: (see SE – 4)

RNAV 3-D Instrument Approach Procedures (applies to standard and advanced airplanes)/SE 6:

Output 13: FAA Order 8260.48 criteria for charts that include 3D RNAV minima and charting specs for publication of charts which include 3D RNAV minima (COMPLETED)

Output 14: Provide procedure development criteria to support FMS equipped aircraft to use LNAV and VNAV. (COMPLETED)

Output 15: Revise the various PTS, FSB reports, and pending FAR Part 1 (definitions), 14 CFR Part 61, 91, and 121 Subparts N & O to address use of modern navigation systems and revised instrument procedures.

Output 16: Implement general-purpose use of "harmonized" approach minima developed by the FAA/JAA AWO Harmonization Working Group. (COMPLETED)