The Aviation Safety Reporting System, ASRS, is a means of confidentially and anonymously reporting unsafe conditions—including your own actions—in aviation, generally without fear of FAA enforcement. Most of us are at least somewhat aware of the ASRS program, but few of us really understand how it works. This is an important program that is of benefit to aviation at large and potentially to us individually, so we should all understand what the ASRS system is, what it can do for us, and how to use it.
Detecting Unsafe Patterns
The catalyst for developing ASRS was—as is often the case—a tragic, preventable accident. On December 1, 1974, TWA 514 was inbound to Dulles Airport in IMC and turbulence. The crew misunderstood an ATC clearance they thought permitted them to descend to 1800 feet. However, that altitude was for the next approach segment, not their current segment. The Boeing 727 crashed into Mt. Weather with no survivors.
