Advocating the Implementation of an Airline Safety Information System

Concern for flight safety is at the forefront of attention for airlines, government, and the flying public. But despite the passage of several aviation safety-related bills in the 1990s, the Federal Aviation Administration’s lack of training in airline inspection and reluctance to release safety data has meant that needed airline safety information is still inaccessible to the public. In the aftermath of recent airline tragedies, however, several consumer advocacy groups, investigative commissions, and the popular media have called for an aviation safety ranking system. Such a rating tool would provide both a useful guide and an incentive for an eventual comprehensive system of aviation safety policy. The rating could include rational factors of safety measurements, such as the rate of accidents, rate of fatality, pilot violations, maintenance fraud, financial stability, average age of fleet, and type of enforcement actions (certificate or monetary). And such a rating may provide a model for forecasting airlines at risk as well as a tool for identifying gaps in the architecture of our public aviation infrastructure.