Written for PAMA by Kathy Yodice © 2000, 2010

Many of you may be familiar with the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting Program (ASRP). Those of you who are familiar with the program may have that familiarity because of the widespread use it has for pilots. Little known, the ASRP is an FAA program that is also good for maintenance personnel, and in all instances, it is good for aviation safety.

For aviation maintenance personnel, it affords an individual facing an FAA enforcement action protection against the surrender of his or her certificate and against the payment of a civil penalty. For aviation safety, it permits the free flow of safety information from those who are in the best position to identify a deficiency to those who are in the best position to initiate action to remedy the deficiency. In this way, information gathered from users of the aviation system may be used to lessen the likelihood of an aviation accident.

The basic purpose of the FAA's ASRP is to facilitate a free flow of safety information from flight crews, mechanics, repairmen, flight attendants, and other users of our national airspace system to the FAA. History has proven that aviation personnel are reluctant to tell about incidents that are embarrassing to them, especially if they could arguably involve violations of the FARs. So, in 1975, the Aviation Safety Reporting System was established through a joint agreement between the FAA and NASA. The two government agencies agreed that NASA would administer the program by collecting and analyzing aviation safety incident reports and then would alert the FAA or other aviation authorities about circumstances that might compromise aviation safety so that they may be remedied. 

In order to encourage these reports, NASA developed a procedure, which allows for the reporter to remain anonymous. NASA created a form that is preaddressed to NASA and franked so that no postage is needed to send in the form. The form has two parts. One part of the form is a strip, where the reporter records his or her name and address, and when the report is received by NASA, this strip is removed, date-stamped, and returned to the reporter. The other part of the form is survey that requests detailed information on the event or situation, and after NASA reviews this form and removes all information that may identify the reporter, this information is entered into NASA's database. The actual report filed by the reporter is not given to the FAA and the information contained within the report is provided to the FAA without any information that could identify the reporter. Thus, the information is received and used confidentially. There are only two exceptions to the anonymity aspect of this program--the report will not be de-identified if it involves criminal conduct or an accident.

To further encourage the filing of incident reports, the FAA adopted the ASRP, which allows an individual immunity from the sanction in a punitive FAA enforcement action. The FAA issued an advisory circular that is currently identified and described in AC No. 0046D, "Aviation Safety Reporting Program". In that AC, the FAA has committed that it will waive the penalty in an enforcement action if the individual can show that he or she filed a timely NASA report and is otherwise eligible for the waiver. To be eligible for the immunity protection of the program, the individual must be able to show that the report was filed within 10 days of the offending event--this is accomplished by presenting the stamped identification strip that was returned to the mechanic by NASA. Also, the offending conduct must have been inadvertent and not deliberate, and it must not involve a lack qualifications or competency. And, finally, the individual must not have been found in a prior FAA enforcement action to have committed a violation within the preceding five years.

As we've said, your report is protected from being used against you by the FAA by NASA de-identifying the report before passing the safety information on to others. To further tighten up this anonymity, the FAA adopted FAR 91.25, which specifically prohibits the use of these reports in any FAA enforcement action. However, we continue to recommend that anyone filing a report exercise caution when completing the "Type of Event/Situation" block on the identification strip of the NASA form, which is the strip that you may have to show to the FAA in order to obtain the waiver of sanction. By innocently describing the event, you could inadvertently admit to the violation or a part of the violation.

The NASA forms are usually available at FAA Flight Standards District Offices. They are sometimes available at aviation events, such as lectures, seminars, and fly-ins. And, PAMA offers the form through a link on its website. The form that applies to maintenance personnel is NASA Form ARC 277D. 

Whether this article reminds you of the Aviation Safety Reporting Program or you’re learning of it for the first time, it is an important program to constantly be aware of throughout an aviation career. If ever you experience any sort of aviation safety incident, promptly file a NASA report. It can cost nothing but your time to file it, and the benefits could be immeasurable.