Recent, similar efforts involving the FAA and the GA community are picking up in tempo. Youve already seen some of the institutional changes: relaxed certification standards for installing advisory angle-of-attack indicators and the new rash of all-electronic attitude indicators, among others, which are designed to help minimize the classic loss-of-control inflight accident. These and other outcomes may be producing tangible results, but its too early to be sure. Regardless, by using a data-driven approach and producing specific safety enhancements, these efforts are creating some useful outcomes for GA pilots. The way this came to be is an example of why you never want to see sausage made.
The FAA shifted its safety strategy in the mid-1990s from regulation enforcement to a proactive, data-driven, and collaborative approach following major airline accidents.
This new system, exemplified by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST), led to a dramatic 83% reduction in fatal airline accidents between 1998 and 2008.
Similar initiatives for general aviation (GAJSC) initially struggled, with accident rates remaining flat despite efforts like the FITS training program.
Recent renewed efforts since 2011, including a re-chartered GAJSC using data-driven methods, show some positive trends in GA accident rates, though the article cautions against definitively attributing cause to these recent actions.
Since the mid-1990s, the FAA has worked proactively with the aviation community to reduce fatal aviation accidents. This has worked spectacularly well with the airlines, which are much more tightly regulated than general aviation, and the safety record shows it. Until recently, however, these efforts haven’t trickled deep down to GA. That’s changing.
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