Safety Recommendation A-01-082

This recommendation was issued to enable the comparison of data in GAATA with data in FAIRS. Staff from the GSA and the NTSB met on September 1, 2010, to discuss the GSA's activities in response to this recommendation and to review the current status of FAIRS. During this briefing, the NTSB learned that the GSA collects considerably more detailed purpose-of flight data in FAIRS than what is contained in GAATA. The NTSB commends the GSA for the collection of this additional information, but its addition does not allow for direct comparison of the two data resources. The NTSB considered the feasibility of collapsing the GSA categories into a comparable set of categories used with GAATA.

We believe that such an activity could be readily performed and that comparison of the two data resources is now both possible and practical. We also believe that analysis of the information in FAIRS may yield additional information using the licher set of purpose-of-flight categories that exist in that system. The GSA's action constitutes an acceptable alternate approach to addressing Safety Recommendation A-01-82, which is classified CLOSED – ACCEPTABLE ALTERNATE ACTION.

MC# 201000367: - From Martha Johnson, Administrator: Thank you for your letter dated August 3,2010, requesting the status of the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) actions in conjunction with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Recommendation A-01-82. GSA has continued with the development of the Federal Aviation Interactive Reporting System (FAIRS) as initially reported in NTSB Safety Study, NTSB/SS-01 01, PB2001-917004, titled 'Public Aircraft Safety,' which was adopted on October 23, 2001.

The initial reference to the development of FAIRS indicated that "Eleven mission category codes are being used to categorize flight hours in the FAIRS system (table 6), with more detailed Subcategories available within these categories." Since the release of the NTSB's 2001 Public Aircraft Safety study, FAIRS has continued to evolve and now includes 13 mission category codes and 177 subcategory mission codes (enclosed), to meet the reporting needs of the Federal aviation community.

As reported in the study, GSA designated its Deputy Associate Administrator for Travel, Transportation and Asset Management as the Chair of the Interagency Committee for Aviation Policy (ICAP), and all agencies operating aircraft have appointed executive-level representatives to the ICAP. GSA recognizes that the NTSB has been a very active participant in the ICAP and a contributor at GSA's annual Aviation Safety Officer workshops. In keeping with the excellent working relationship that has been established, GSA looks forward to continue a dialogue in the interest of aviation safety. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Staff inquiries may be directed to Mr. Robert Galloway, Director, Aviation Policy, Office of Travel, Transportation and Asset Management. He can be reached at (202) 501-3204.

The Safety Board supports the GSA's efforts to harmonize the definitions of public-use aircraft and public-use flight operations with the FAA's General Aviation and Air Taxi Survey. Safety Board staff discussions with the FAA's Office of Policy and Plans indicate that it too is working with the GSA to resolve these differences. Safety Recommendation A-01-82 is classified OPEN -- ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE pending the resolution of GSA and FAA classification of public-use aircraft purpose-of-flight categories. The Board looks forward to continuing our partnership in aviation safety with your agency.

Letter Mail Controlled 03/01/2002 5:33:33 PM MC# 2020229 - From G. Martin Wagner, Associate Administrator: It is our understanding that FAA's Office of Policy and Plans may be revising the purpose-of-flight categories in the GA and Air Taxi Survey. As they make these changes, we will coordinate closely with them to ensure that the categories they include in the survey correspond to the mission categories in FAIRS. In this way, we should be able to provide more useful data for future analysis of the safety of public aircraft.

Letter Mail Controlled 02/12/2002 6:00:51 PM MC# 2020148 - From G. Martin Wagner, Associate Administrator: We are looking forward to reviewing the study, and we are exploring the feasibility of implementing your recommendations. To response to recommendation A-01-82, we will need to confer and coordinate with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). We have begun conversations with FAA’s Office of Policy and Plans, and they have agreed to meet with us in January. We expect that we should be able to give you a more detailed response by January 31, 2002.