Pace of Safety Audits to Pick Up

Air Safety Week, August 23, 2004

A new program of safety audits is about to kick into high gear to meet a January 2006 goal. The audits are sponsored by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). They are known as the IATA Operational Safety Audit, or IOSA.

So far, about two dozen IATA member airlines have completed the audits, but with 270 airlines in IATA, and some 16 months remaining to the 2006 goal, nearly 250 airlines would have to complete the audits.

"Next year will be extremely crowded," said Guenther Matschnigg, IATA senior vice president of safety, operations and infrastructure. In an interview with ASW, Matschnigg said the January 2006 goal may have to be relaxed, depending upon the outcome of October 12 discussions in Beijing of the IATA operations committee. Matschnigg made his perspective clear: "I'd like to move faster."

"We've completed about 25 audits over the past eight to ten months, and we have another 25 in the pipeline for the next few months," he explained. However, at that pace, IATA-accredited auditors would have to cover more than 200 airlines in 2005. To date, the audits have been completed at an average rate of about three per month. To cover all IATA member airlines by the beginning of 2006, the pace would have to accelerate by a factor of nearly five, increasing to about 16 airline audits per month.

The mathematics of achieving this goal are daunting. Presently, six organizations have been accredited by IATA to conduct the audits. Typically, an accredited team can complete 10 to 15 audits per year. In the best case, 90 airlines could be audited (6 x 15 = 90).

So far, the audits primarily have involved international carriers from all over the globe. Singapore International Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Qatar Airlines are some of the carriers who have recently undergone audits. The results, Matschnigg explained, are confidential, and corrective action plans are developed for areas where improvement is needed. An airline will be audited in eight areas, ranging form flight operations to ground handling.

The emphasis in the audits is not only on program documentation, but also imple-mentation, defined in the IOSA standards manual as, "activated, integrated, incorporated, deployed, installed or made available as part of the operational system, and monitored and evaluated as necessary for continued effectiveness."

It is evident that that the program is still evolving, with numerous updates to the IOSA standards manual as recent as June 2004.

The audit appears quite comprehensive. The flight operations audit involves a 92-page checklist. As a sign of the times, a security audit is part of the program, involving a 16-page checklist.

The audit is valid for a period of 12 months, during which time the audited airline may be completing corrective actions to deficiencies resulting from the audit. During a Closing Meeting at the end of the audit, auditors provide a detailed briefing to the airline. Once the corrective action plan has been implemented and verified, the airline is listed on the IOSA Registry. The airline's listing on the Registry indicates that it has been audited and meets all IOSA standards. Failure to complete the corrective action plan (CAP) within the 12-month period invalidates the audit. This being the case, most operators will be compelled to close findings as quickly as possible in order to achieve IOSA registration. Initial experience bears out this point. Once in conformity with all IOSA standards, the operators will be carried on the IOSA Registry for 24 months, meaning that registered operators are re-audited on a two-year interval.

Beyond the bureaucratism of the process, Matschnigg believes the program can raise the level of safety worldwide, which was his original intent.

Given that all 270 IATA member airlines have agreed to seek IOSA registration, that support reflects no small commitment to safety and quality by the organization's more than 270 member operators.

>> Matschnigg, e-mail matschnigg@iata.org <<

The Flight Operations Checklist

SAMPLE IOSA ITEMS

Item: The operator shall have policies and provide instruction on adverse weather operations, including:

i) Thunderstorms

ii) Turbulence

iii) Contaminated runways, including the effect of type and depth of contaminants on performance

iv) Cold and hot weather operations

v) Volcanic ash

Documented _ Yes _ No

Implemented _ Yes _ No

Conformity1 _ Yes _ No

Item: The operator shall provide guidance on the handling of Flight Data Recorders (FDRs) and Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVRs), to include the following:

i) The FDR shall not be intentionally switched off

ii) The CVR shall not be intentionally switched off, unless essential to preserve accident or serious incident-related data.

Documented _ Yes _ No

Implemented _ Yes _ No

Conformity _ Yes _ No

Item: TCAS (Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance System) procedures shall contain instructions to follow a Resolution Advisory even if in conflict with ATC instructions.