Australia's Regional Express (Rex) has become the first regional airline in the country and one of the first in the world to conduct a line operations safety audit (LOSA).
The project was funded by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and involved the airline using the LOSA safety-based auditing tool developed by the University of Texas Human Factors LOSA Collaborative group. LOSA involves trained observers sitting in the jump seat during scheduled flights to collect safety-related data on environmental conditions, operational complexities and flightcrew performance.
Little research has been done on development of safety models for the regional sector, even though it experiences a higher accident rate than mainline carriers. LOSA is largely beyond the reach of regional airlines, says the project report. Rex's participation in the programme was part of efforts by the LOSA Collaborative group to obtain data from regional airlines to make the database more representative, and LOSA tools more relevant for the sector.
The work conducted by Rex has provided new and valuable research data from a regional context, says the report, adding that it is expected to lead to the wider use of such tools by regional airlines. Rex plans to implement its own LOSA in late 2007 or early 2008.
Source: Flight International
