Tools for Safety Risk Management: The ATO Safety Management System (SMS) Manual provides tools and guidance for the assessment of safety risk. (Photo courtesy of the Federal Aviation Administration)

Sponsor

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) —Air Traffic Organization (ATO)

Project Highlights

• Safety Risk Management (SRM) assessment of air traffic systems and procedures
  • Includes facilitation of ATO SRM panels and analytical support for the identification of safety hazards, assessments of hazard severity, and estimation of hazard likelihood.
• Development of safety processes for use with the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)
  • Adaptation of existing safety processes to accommodate the need for integrated safety analysis under NextGen.
• Preliminary safety assessments of future systems and procedures to be deployed as part of NextGen
  • Includes development of functional system representations and corresponding hazard identification for future capabilities such as NextGen Surface Trajectory-Based Operations (STBO).

Project Point of Contact

Stephen Creaghan
Chief, Aviation Systems Engineering Division
617.494.2924
stephen.creaghan@dot.gov

Project Overview

The Volpe Center has provided safety assessment support for a variety of proposed air traffic innovations and procedural changes. Safety Risk Management (SRM) studies have focused on topics ranging from various "Call to Action" measures designed to improve runway and taxiway safety to revised airborne spacing standards for the Boeing 757. Safety analyses for future NextGen systems include development of functional representations and operational hazard assessments for NextGen surface systems. Research into the nature and feasibility of integrated safety processes for NextGen applications has also been a focus of the Volpe Center's efforts. The FAA sponsors for this work include the ATO Office of Safety (AJS), NextGen and Operations Planning (ANG), and ATO Terminal Services (AJT).