FAA History Lesson -- February 23

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”Feb 23, 1956: The Civil Aeronautics Board, noting the increasing frequency of near-collisions in the air and wishing to gain more information about such incidents, adopted Special Civil Air Regulation No. SR- 416, which granted immunity from disciplinary proceedings to pilots reporting near misses. The identity of the pilot or other person making the report would be held in confidence by the Board. In cases where information about a violation of Civil Air Regulations was obtained by other means, however, the fact that the violation was voluntarily reported would not preclude enforcement, disciplinary, or remedial proceedings on the basis of such other information. In an attempt to gather information on near misses, some airlines had previously started their own anonymous reporting programs, but that effort had failed because pilots feared possible Federal disciplinary action. The CAB grant of immunity was intended to overcome this problem. (See Jul 10, 1959.) “

First, if you don’t know about NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System you need to familiarize yourself with it.

Second, if you haven’t read about the judge’s ruling in the ASAP program (a program similar to NASA’s ASRS) then you need to.


Don Brown
February 23, 2008