LOSA Line Oriented Safety Assurance

Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l

LOSA

Line Oriented

Safety Assurance*

RMC 2021

Orlando, FL


The FAA’s Voluntary Safety Reporting Programs:


Guidance Documents


Qualities of a LOSA

▪ Jumpseat during normal flights

▪ Voluntary!

▪ Confidential, safety-only data collection

▪ Joint airline-union sponsorship

▪ Targeted observation

▪ Trusted, trained, standardized observers

▪ Trusted data collection

▪ Data cleaning/validation round tables

▪ Data driven decision making

▪ Feedback!

Source: ICAO LOSA Manual, Doc 9803


Two Types of LOSA…


The “In-House LOSA”

…motivation & challenges

- $

- “Drift”…FOSA

- Duration

- Benchmarking

- No memorialized agreement / buy-in

- Big Brother?


Who is the LOSA Collaborative?

Dr. James Klinect + 25

• Founder & CEO

• Authored ICAO regs & FAA AC

• UT – A history

The LOSA Collaborative

PO Box 684645

Austin, Texas 78768 Tel: +1 512 892 5527

Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


LOSA Archive

AeroMexico

Air Canada

Air Hong Kong

Asiana

Alaska Airlines

Air France

Air New Zealand

Air Nelson

Air Nuigini

Air Transat

ANA

ANA Network

ASA

Cathay Pacific

Frontier

Horizon Air

Japan Airlines

JetBlue

LACSA

QANTAS

Qatar Airways

Malaysia Airlines

Mexicana

Mt. Cook

Regional Express

Republic

Royal Air Maroc

Saudia

Shuttle America

Chautauqua

China Airlines

Click Mexicana

COPA

COPA Colombia

Continental

Continental Express

Continental Micronesia

Delta

DHL Air

Dragonair

FedEx

Emirates

ExpressJet

Silk Air

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Cargo

Southwest

TACA

TACA Peru

TAP Portugal

Thomas Cook

UPS

United

US Airways

USAF AMC

Virgin Australia

Volaris

WestJet

100+ LOSAs / 70+ airlines / 20,000+ observations


20,000+ LOSA Observations

Svalbard, Norway


▪ Steering committee / coordinator / benchmarks / focus

▪ Comm to pilots

▪ Create observation form (sample)

▪ Select / train / schedule observers

▪ Validate / analyze data

▪ Report (in and out)

▪ Implement / monitor change (AQP, ASAP, FOQA, etc.)

LOSA Implementation Steps


LOSA Can Tell Us What Happens

Proactive identification of system safety and flight crew performance “strengths and

weaknesses” from everyday operations


▪ Threat - Events or errors that occur outside the influence

of the flight crew but which require their attention if

safety margins are to be maintained

LOSA Threats

Environmental Threats

• Adverse Weather

• Airport

• ATC

• Environmental Ops Pressure

• Terrain

• Traffic

• Communication

Airline Threats

• Airline Operational Pressure

• Aircraft

• Cabin

• Dispatch / Paperwork

• Ground / Ramp

• Ground Maintenance


▪ Error - Observable deviations from organizational or crew

intentions or expectations

LOSA Errors

Aircraft Handling

• Automation

• Manual Handling

• Flight Control

• System / Radio / Instrument

• Taxi

Procedural

• Briefing

• Callout

• Checklist

• Cross-Verification

• Documentation

• PF/PM Duty

Communication

• Crew to External

• Pilot to Pilot


LOSA Sample Size


Drill-Downs: UAS by Fleet


• Continuous vs. “snapshot”

• Observer burnout

• Biases

• Pilot buy-in / labor issues

• Statistical significance (0.002777%)?

LOSA Challenges


▪ Modified for demographic / technological / ethnographic

concerns

LOSA 2.0

What might the future of LOSA look like?


Questions / Discussion

Thank you!

LOSA Line Oriented Safety Assurance

Documents

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