Dwayne Brown

Headquarters, Washington, DC December 11, 1997

(Phone: 202/358-1726)

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
(Phone: 650/604-9000)

Les Dorr
FAA,Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/267-3461)

RELEASE: 97-283

NASA, FAA DEVELOPING SYSTEM THAT COULD ENHANCE PRESENT COMMERCIAL

AVIATION ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROGRAMS

NASA, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) is developing an automated system that could better prevent
commercial aviation accidents by processing aircraft performance
data -- used to troubleshoot potential future aircraft problems --
more efficiently.

The system supports a National Civil Aviation Review

Commission preliminary report, presented today to U.S. Secretary
of Transportation Rodney Slater, containing recommendations on how
best to finance, manage, and improve the performance of the
nation's civil aviation programs.

Collectively called the Aviation Performance Measuring

System, it is being developed at NASA's Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, CA, and works by reducing the human labor needed to
process large quantities of performance data generated by today's
aircraft systems. This makes processing of the data more
efficient and enhances the data collection and cost effectiveness
of present safety programs of U.S. carriers.

The system monitors over 1200 operational functions of the

aircraft. Some of the areas in which the system provides valuable
early warnings of potential problems include performance, cockpit
instrument inputs, electrical equipment, fuel, and hydraulics.

"This gives the airlines an eye on operations that they don't

now have," said Linda Connell, director of FAA-NASA's Aviation
Safety Reporting System, which complements the program. Funded by
the FAA, the $3 million research program began in 1993 as a
collaborative effort between NASA and the FAA to develop a set of
tools that would allow large quantities of flight data to be
processed in a highly automated fashion.

On Oct. 6, 1995, Alaska Airlines was the first air carrier to

enter into an agreement with NASA for collaboration on the
development of the suite of system's tools. The initial
demonstration to representatives of Alaska Airlines, Airline
Pilots Association, and FAA was designed to respond to the
specific requirements for information identified in a user-needs
study conducted by the system's project team at Alaska Airlines.
On Dec. 20, 1996, United Airlines signed a similar agreement. The
system's team expects to demonstrate the initial build of a United
Airlines system using flight-recorded data from United's 40 A-320
aircraft early in 1998.

The system is now undergoing operational testing by Alaska

Airlines' personnel, analyzing data from their first six MD-80
aircraft equipped with Quick Access Recorders. There will be a
continuing process of developing future upgrades of the system as
Alaska Airlines' personnel become familiar with its capabilities
and have time to identify new requirements.

Under NASA's new Aviation Safety Program, the system will

eventually be extended to service the needs of engineering,
maintenance, and training in the airlines, and to commuter, cargo,
and corporate air carriers.

"By incorporating advanced automation techniques, we can

detect accident precursors we didn't know existed," said Dr.
Richard Keller, research lead for intelligent systems technology.
"The carriers also can use the system proactively to forestall
future problems by improving training, operations and maintenance
procedures," he added. At the national level, such tools could
help to monitor the entire aviation system to detect areas where
regulations or air traffic control operating practices need to be
improved.

"The FAA has funded this research and development effort to

facilitate the capability within the industry to make the best use
of digital flight data on a routine basis," said
Dr. Irving Statler, the system's project manager.

The system provides a prototype of a flight data analysis

ground station with broad-based reporting capabilities customized
to the needs and operations of U.S. airlines and includes specific
provisions for technology transfer of prototype products to
commercial vendors using present safety programs and technology.

Flight operations safety programs using flight-recorded data

have been providing critical safety information to non-U.S.
airlines for more than two decades. In cooperation with an FAA-
sponsored study, four U.S. airlines initiated trial programs in
1995 that resulted in the need to improve existing off-the-shelf
software to enhance the effectiveness of current safety programs
of large U.S. airlines.

-end-