Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) is becoming a best practice for business aircraft operators, but it is often costly to implement.
For years, FDM programs have mostly benefited medium-to-large cabin aircraft operators – that is, those operators with bigger budgets, and/or whose equipment comes built-in with FDM-capable devices. This limited range leaves operators of piston, turbo- prop and light jet aircraft without cost-effective solutions.
The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) aims to solve this budgeting issue by offering a cost-effective, entry-level option for smaller aircraft operators. And it’s doing so by partnering with AirSync for its flight data collection hardware and connectivity, and CloudAhoy for its Pilot-Flight Operations Quality Assurance (P-FOQA) software for flight data analysis.
ABOUT FLIGHT DATA MONITORING SYSTEMS
Boeing defines FDM as the objective analysis of aircraft and operational systems that provide actionable data for continuous improvement. With FDM, operators can:
- Use the post-flight FDM data to measure compliance with company standards and federal regulations.
- Provide input to an aviation operator’s Safety Management System (SMS).
- Learn what the aircraft did during flight.
THIRD-PARTY MANAGEMENT
As a 3rd-party manager of the FDM program, the ACSF team will:
- Assist flight departments in determining the necessary program scope.
- Help members source hardware and software solutions.
- Educate the member’s staff regarding the non-punitive nature of an FDM program.
- Analyze routine flight data captured from aircraft systems to improve safety performance and analyze all anonymous member data.
- Provide an FDM program manual and a section on FDM for the member’s flight/general operations manual.
- Discuss quarterly reports highlighting the member’s FDM performance benchmarked with ACSF aggregate data information.
- Help address systemic issues identified through FDM.
- Share trends to help improve safety events and incidents.
Using P-FOQA, pilots can access immediate feedback after every flight, highlighting safety and proficiency topics.
Additional FDM program benefits include immediate feedback to crew members after every flight, highlighting safety and proficiency topics and bolstering confidence in the “Just Safety” culture; insight into how crews operate and use real-world data in training scenarios; ensuring that crew member training is even safer and more efficient; and anonymized data across multiple operators to identify trends and improve flight safety across the board.
BEST-PRACTICE RECOMMENDATION
According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s “Most Wanted” list, implementing an FDM is a best-practice recommendation. In fact, FDM is the next logical step for aircraft operators who also use a Safety Management System (SMS) and are active members of an Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP).
Before getting started with FDM, operators should make sure to reinforce a Just Safety culture early – and often – in order to gain acceptance by flight crews. It’s also recommended that each operator introduces the concepts and principles of FDM well before installing the first device on an aircraft.
Establishing an incremental approach is important from a cost and programmatic standpoint, but also to ensure that everyone’s on the same page.
To learn more about Flight Data Monitoring systems, visit acsf.aero/fdm.
Read the original editorial featured in the January 2023 issue of Professional Pilot magazine.
