December 3, 2011 FAA Aims To Cut Commercial Accidents By Half

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By Mary Grady, Contributing editor

The FAA's Commercial Aviation Safety Team said last week it will expand its proactive accident-reduction efforts with the goal of cutting the already-low fatality rate in U.S. commercial aviation 50 percent by 2025. The team also will start to include general aviation, helicopter operators, and the military in its programs. In addition to analyzing past accidents and their causes, CAST works to collect data on current aviation operations and incidents to identify emerging and changing risks and prevent accidents.

Over the next two years, the team will also start to include maintenance and air traffic information and more regional air carriers in its data-gathering efforts. CAST aims to identify accident risk factors and develop specific safety enhancements to address them. The goal is to continually improve the safety of the aviation system.