FIVE NATIONS SHARE AVIATION DATA- MORE?
A significant aviation safety agreement was signed recently by INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, THE PHILIPPINES, SINGAPORE and THAILAND. While this is a significant advance for SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (SMS) in this region. It is curious why the cooperation was not tied to even larger collection of the same information such as GSIP?
The Five Nations committed to sharing AVIATION SAFETY DATA, in support of their respective SMSs as described in these points:
Under the MOU, the States agree to cooperate and regularly share safety data and safety information from reports of safety occurrences to:
a. Advance the Asia-Pacific Regional Aviation Safety Plan goals to reduce operational risks and enable data-driven regulatory oversight;
b. Support the States’ safety management activities through safety data collection, analysis, and exchange; and
c. Enable the validation of existing safety risks, detection of emerging hazards and risks, and facilitate effective and timely intervention
I. The shared data will come from each individual State’s mandatory reporting systems, covering scheduled international and domestic commercial air transport, based on occurrences reported by the States’ service providers, including airlines, air navigation service providers and aerodrome operators.
II. An initial list of seven categories of safety occurrences has been identified for this initiative:
a. Traffic Collision Avoidance System – Resolution Advisory,
b. Deviations from Air Traffic Controller assigned altitude,
c. Ground Proximity Warning System or Terrain Awareness and Warning System activations,
d. Severe turbulence,
e. Windshear,
f. Bird strikes,
g. Dangerous goods incidents.
The occurrence types and data fields to be shared may be revised during the duration of the MOU, subject to mutual agreement.
III. To ensure smooth implementation, the participating States will jointly develop a “Procedural Handbook” which outlines working procedures and detail data governance protocols, including data/information security, protection, retention, and destruction. All States will contribute data for the purpose of this initiative as Data Contributors. CAAT will serve as the Data Custodian, and CAAS, the Data Analyst. Details on the respective roles can be found in Annex A.
IV. Collaboration under the Regional Aviation Safety Data and Information Sharing Initiative is built on the following core principles which the States agree on:
a. Safety data and safety information shall be utilised for the purpose of advancing safety goals as outlined in the MOU and SHALL NOT BE USED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSES.
b. Except for the Data Contributor, safety data and safety information shared shall not be used to support investigations of accidents and incidents and shall not be used for punitive or enforcement purposes.
c. The findings and recommendations from analysis of safety data and safety information shared shall not be used to support investigations of accidents and incidents and shall not be used for punitive or enforcement purposes.
d. The sharing and exchange of safety data and safety information shall be in line with the PRINCIPLES OF PROTECTION IN ICAO’S ANNEX 19 ON SAFETY MANAGEMENT AS MAY BE UPDATED FROM TIME TO TIME.
e. Processes for safety data and safety information handling and analysis shall be carried out with transparency and in accordance with the agreed data governance protocols.
f. The data governance protocols shall be determined by consensus and shall be clear to all participating States.
g. Findings and recommendations from analyses conducted shall always be aggregated and de-identified before being shared.
h. Each Data Contributor shall retain ownership of safety data and safety information which it provided.
Nine years ago FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION (FSF), with the encouragement of the FAA, started the GLOBAL SAFETY INFORMATION PROGRAM (GSIP). This FSF creation is a worldwide resource that guides the aviation community’s response to challenges that may emerge from safety data collection and processing systems (SDCPS). Focus areas include safety data collection, safety data analysis, safety information protection, and safety information sharing. All of the stored data follows the ICAO data protocols.
GSIP is more that a meta data resource because FSF conducts focus group sessions, workshops, webinars and conferences with global aviation stakeholders. In 2017, the Foundation published three SDCPS-focused toolkits. Detailed summaries of each year’s accomplishments, work products, findings and recommendations are provided in annual GSIP Reports.
The Five Nations may have limited their initial sharing to the region to focus on the unusual, if not unique, operations of their airlines. The analyses of their collection of data may identify risks that are more of concern that a broader compilation. However, some of the AT and aircraft reports may have broader implications. Sending their raw data to GSIP or another meta data site likely would add to the reliability of the trend lines. Similarly the GSIP feedback might help the Five Nations’ SAFETY.
Five Southeast Asian nations agree to share aviation safety data
October 17, 2024 – 21:58
This initiative marks the first of its kind as the region’s aviation industry strives to accelerate recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
HÀ NỘI – INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, THE PHILIPPINES, SINGAPORE and THAILAND have agreed to share aviation data and information, including reports on severe turbulence, to promptly notify each other and prevent potential incidents, ensuring safer air travel for passengers.
This initiative marks the FIRST OF ITS KIND AS THE REGION’S AVIATION INDUSTRY strives to accelerate recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a joint statement on Thursday, aviation officials from the five countries announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday.
Under this agreement, these countries will begin sharing aviation information and data by the end of this year. The collaboration aims to identify emerging threats and risks in aviation operations, allowing for timely planning and implementation of risk mitigation measures.
Southeast Asia’s aviation sector is steadily recovering from the COVID-19 crisis, with airlines introducing new measures, such as expanding fleets, to boost this process.
The countries have initially identified seven types of data to be shared, including
- collision warnings,
- ground alert system activations,
- and air traffic control safety issues.
They will also exchange information on
- severe turbulence,
- wind shear,
- \bird strikes, and
- dangerous cargo transport.
- Wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed and/or direction over a small area, poses a significant risk, especially at low altitudes during takeoff and landing.
According to the joint statement, THAILAND’S CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY WILL OVERSEE DATA PROTECTION AND STORAGE, WHILE SINGAPORE WILL LEAD DATA ANALYSIS.
However, all information and conclusions from the analysis will not be used for accident investigations, punitive actions, or law enforcement measures.
“This initiative is significant in having States agree to share our respective safety data and information so that we can achieve better safety outcomes for all. This would not have been possible without trust amongst the States involved, a shared commitment to aviation safety and protocols to safeguard confidentiality. We hope that this first-of-its-kind initiative in this region will have a catalytic and demonstrative effect and WE CAN ONBOARD MORE COUNTRIES TO WORK TOGETHER TO ENSURE SAFER SKIES FOR THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC.”
HAN KOK JUAN, Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, expressed his hope that other nations will join this initiative to enhance passenger safety and convenience. VNA/VNS
