Airbus Industrie is to provide customers, free of charge, with the software and training to record and share information on human-factors (HF)-related incidents with the con- sortium's safety department.
To be known as the Aircrew Incident Reporting System (AIRS), it will be the first such manufacturer-provided service. Four unnamed airlines so far have agreed to participate. Human-factors error is recognised throughout the air-transport industry as the most fertile area for action to improve flight safety, being the most common contributory factor in serious accidents.
British Airways signed an agreement on 2 October enabling Airbus to employ its BASIS (British Airways Safety Information System) software for the AIRS. Airbus hopes that individual airline-run systems will soon network unidentified confidential HF reports to its own incident databank, allowing operators of Airbus aircraft to benefit in their operations and training from HF-incident trend analysis.
Airbus' director of flight safety Yves Benoist says that it will also enable it to plan modifications for procedures, manuals, cockpits or improvements to future aircraft.
Source: Flight International
