[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 142 (Tuesday, July 23, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38240-38242]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-18686]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
[Docket No. 28567]
A Call for the Development of Prototype(s) for a Global Analysis
and Information Network (GAIN)
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of On-line Question and Answer Session About GAIN on
CompuServe.
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SUMMARY: On May 10, 1996, the FAA published a request for comments
about the Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept and
implementation strategy for collecting and analyzing aviation safety
data. That request for comments also invited participation in the
development of proof-of-concept prototypes. The GAIN concept involves
the international sharing and analyzing of data, technologies, and
systems that would provide an early warning capability to signal
increased risks in aviation safety. The comment period closed on July
19,
[[Page 38241]]
1996, and more than 60 comments were submitted from all over the world.
This notice announces an opportunity for commenters and others to
discuss issues and ask questions about GAIN with Christopher A. Hart,
FAA's Assistant Administrator for System Safety (ASY-1). Mr. Hart will
serve as the facilitator of a live on-line question and answer session
on the CompuServe Information Service. In preparation for a workshop to
be convened by the FAA later this year to bring commenters and others
together to discuss GAIN and the development of GAIN prototypes,
commenters are encouraged to review each other's comments and to
commence discussions with each other about potential joint ventures. By
clarifying issues that commenters and others may have, this on-line
question and answer session will hopefully make the workshop, as well
as the preparatory discussions between commenters, more productive.
DATES: The on-line question and answer session will be held on Tuesday,
August 6 from 9:00 p.m., EDT (6:00 PDT) to 10:30 p.m., EDT (7:30 PDT)
on the CompuServe Information Service. Persons without on-line access
may participate in the session by submitting written questions to the
FAA, which must be received on or before July 31, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons and organizational representatives with
CompuServe on-line access may participate in the question and answer
session by ``Go''ing to the Convention Center, then selecting ``FAA's
Chris Hart discusses global safety network'' from the menu. Questions
can also be submitted before the session via electronic mail to
71650.477@compuserve.com.''
Interested persons without on-line access may participate in the
question and answer session by mailing questions to the Federal
Aviation Administration, Attn: GAIN Program Division, ASY-200, ``On-
Line GAIN Conference,'' 400 7th Street, SW., Room 2227, Washington, DC
20590.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mr. Charles Fluet, Manager, GAIN Program Division, ASY-200, Office of
System Safety, Federal Aviation Administration, 400 7th Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20590, telephone (202) 267-GAIN (202-267-4246).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The aviation industry has made remarkable progress in reducing
aviation accident rates. However, this rate has remained stubbornly
consistent for about the last 10 years, and at today's accident rate,
the forecasted growth in air transportation demand could lead to more
than 4,500 fatalities worldwide per year by 2025--clearly an
unacceptable result. Yet, all too often, the aviation industry as a
whole has not been able to use data about accidents, incidents and
other system anomalies to become aware of existing or emerging safety
problems in time to take preventive measures. The entire industry must
develop a significantly improved operational early warning capability
that is sensitive enough to detect and alert the aviation community to
existing and emerging problems. A major aspect of this capability is
the sharing of safety information, both within categories in the
industry, e.g., carriers must share with other carriers and
manufacturers with other manufacturers; and across categories, e.g.,
labor, management, carriers, manufacturers, air traffic controllers,
airport operators, and others must share with each other. Creating
useful information, however, generally requires the collection of large
amounts of data, and it also involves the careful analysis of the data.
Rarely would there be any need or desire to share any raw data, but the
sharing of the analysis of the data--the information--could be mutually
beneficial. A new safety information paradigm, with much greater
sensitivity to anomalies in daily aviation system operations, could
help the industry reach ``Zero Accidents.'' Gathering and analyzing
large amounts of qualitative and quantitative aviation safety data to
better understand routine system operations is the foundations of the
Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept.
On May 10, 1996, the FAA published a request for comments on the
Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept and
implementation strategy for collecting and analyzing aviation safety
data. That request also invited participation in the development of
proof-of-concept prototypes. The proposed GAIN system would be more
sensitive to conditions that signal increased safety risks because it
would contain information about normal aviation system operations. The
statistical baseline for normal aviation operations, constructed with
digital flight and ATC radar data, among other major and currently
untapped sources, would be the plumb line from which deviations are
measured. The importance of obtaining information about a far greater
percentage of aircraft operations has been illustrated repeatedly by
all-too-typical accident investigation findings of earlier flights that
experienced problems similar to the accident aircraft. A truly
effective early warning capability would involve significant
improvements in information feedback and analysis for aviation
operations. When fully implemented, it is believed that GAIN would, at
a minimum, add the following new elements to the existing monitoring
systems: (1) new data sources that would improve risk assessment and
provide a baseline for normal flight operations, thus improving the
changes of early anomaly detection; (2) new and innovative data
management and analytical techniques and methodologies that quickly
reveal obscure and/or infrequent data patterns and associations; and
(3) new methods to disseminate the findings quickly and globally to all
who could use them to improve international aviation safety.
The FAA anticipates that GAIN and its prototypes will be privately
owned by a consortium of several entities from all over the world, and
the FAA plans to invite potential participants to a workshop later this
year to help facilitate the process of developing prototypes. In order
to encourage prospective participants to discuss potential joint
ventures with each other before the workshop, the process was set up to
enable all GAIN commenters to look at each other's comments via the
Internet.
The FAA encourages commenters to take maximum advantage of this
Internet capability and to commence discussions with each other to
determine how, working together, commenters can begin to develop
prototypes. The FAA has already received numerous clarifying inquiries
about GAIN, and commenters and others undoubtedly have more questions.
The purpose of this on-line question and answer session is to provide a
forum for these questions to be asked and answered because better
understanding of GAIN by prospective participants, and better FAA
understanding of the concerns of prospective participants, will make
the workshop, as well as the preparatory discussions between
commenters, much more fruitful.
On-line Session Procedures
(1) The on-line question and answer session is scheduled to last 90
minutes, and the FAA will try to accommodate all interested persons and
organizational representatives. If the available time does not permit
this, questions will be answered on a first-come-first-served basis.
Further, the FAA reserves the right to exclude some questions if
[[Page 38242]]
necessary to obtain a balance of viewpoints and issues. The session may
adjourn early if all interested persons complete their statements and
have their questions answered in less time than is scheduled.
(2) Christopher A. Hart, FAA's Assistant Administrator for System
Safety, will serve as the facilitator of the on-line session. A panel
of FAA representatives involved in GAIN will be available to answer
questions and clarify issues.
(3) A transcript of the on-line discussions will be prepared and
placed in the public docket at FAA headquarters in Washington, DC, by
August 12, 1996, for review by interested persons. A copy of the
transcript will also be made available via CompuServe from the Aviation
Week Group Information Center Forum library by August 12, 1996.
(4) Statements made by FAA representatives are intended to
facilitate discussion of, and clarify, the issues and to answer
questions. Any statements made during the on-line session by FAA
representatives are the individual views of those representatives and
do not necessarily represent the views of the FAA.
(5) The on-line session is designed to solicit views and clarify
issues about the GAIN concept. Therefore, the session will be conducted
in an informal and non-adversarial manner. No individual will be
subject to cross-examination by any other participant; however, FAA
representatives may ask clarifying questions to ensure a more complete
and useful record.
Issued in Washington, DC, on July 18, 1996.
Christopher A. Hart,
Assistant Administrator for System Safety, Federal Aviation
Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-18686 Filed 7-22-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-M
