SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Under 49 U.S.C. 40123, certain voluntarily provided safety and security information is protected from disclosure to encourage persons to provide the information to the FAA. The FAA's rules for implementing 49 U.S.C. 40123 are in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 193. The FAA must first issue an order specifying why the agency finds that the information should be protected. If the FAA Administrator issues an order designating information as protected under 49 U.S.C. 40123, that information will not be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) or other laws except as provided in part 193, and as provided in the order designating the information as protected. This order to protect the USAST information from disclosure is issued under 14 CFR 193.11, which sets out the notice procedure for designating information as protected.

Applicability

This final order will be applicable to any FAA organization that receives safety information covered under this designation from a core member, general member, or other invited participant of the USAST, aviation community safety team, or working group chartered by the USAST. The final order will also apply to any other government agency that receives such information from the FAA. For any other government agency to receive USAST information protected from disclosure under this designation from the FAA, the agency receiving the protected information must first comply with the procedure set forth in 14 CFR 193.7(e) and this order.

A core member of the USAST is a voting organization expected to be represented at every USAST meeting (this includes but is not limited to operators, aviation industry associations, and original equipment manufacturers). A general member of the USAST is an organization that is expected to attend USAST when topics pertinent to their domain of expertise are covered (this includes, but is not limited to industry safety groups, industry labor associations, and specialized industry associations).

Description of the Safety Information To Be Protected

The FAA designates certain system-level safety issue information voluntarily provided through the USAST as protected from disclosure. These protections extend only to information covered in Section B of this document. The USAST is a collaborative leadership body representing U.S. industry and government stakeholders across the aviation community. It evolved from the legacy Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) to bring together stakeholders from across aviation communities and offer a new approach and tools for addressing systemic aviation safety issues. The USAST encompasses (but is not limited to) air navigation service providers, air carriers and operators, crewmembers, aerospace ( printed page 67894) manufacturers, aerospace domain associations ( i.e., labor unions, standards bodies, etc.), and aviation community safety teams.

Aviation community safety teams are government-industry partnerships that work to improve aviation safety by collectively analyzing aviation safety data to identify emerging issues and develop strategies to address and prioritize safety issues. Participation in an aviation community safety team is entirely voluntary. These teams rely on the voluntary submission of proprietary industry safety data to develop informed mitigations/communications appropriate to their communities. Aviation community safety teams develop voluntary safety enhancements as intervention strategies to prevent or mitigate risk in the NAS. Existing aviation community safety teams include the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST), General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC), U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST), Drone Safety Team (DST), and their working groups.

The USAST is led by two executive-level chairpersons: one selected from the aviation industry and one from the U.S. Government (an FAA employee selected by the FAA Administrator). The FAA also participates in the USAST with multiple FAA lines of business as core members. This designation applies only to non-FAA members of the USAST, aviation community safety teams, and workgroups chartered by the USAST. As such, this designation should not be construed as an opportunity for the FAA to protect data it obtains non-voluntarily and provides to the USAST. The core function of the USAST is to improve aviation safety through voluntary participation in safety analysis to address potential systemic safety issues.

A system-level safety issue is anything that involves a potential hazard that affects one or more segments of the aviation industry or affects multiple entities within a single segment of the industry. As part of the system-level safety issue lifecycle, the USAST relies on voluntary identification and submission of safety issues from the aviation industry and aviation community safety teams. Prior to a system-level safety issue arising to the USAST it is generally worked through an appropriate aviation community safety team to ensure that the issue is systemic and has all the necessary supporting information and data. The USAST may also conduct safety promotion activities with the aviation industry to communicate safety issues and/or safety enhancements to the appropriate aviation community safety team for awareness.

Non-FAA USAST members aviation community safety teams and workgroups chartered by the USAST, submit voluntary provided aviation safety issues to the USAST. Safety issues submitted to the USAST are considered “FAA-received” at the moment of submission because of the FAA's role as USAST co-chair.. The information the FAA receives from the USAST comes in through different formats. These formats may include USAST meeting agendas, meeting minutes, presentations, reports, and analyses. The information provided in these documents is voluntarily provided to the USAST and FAA release of this information would jeopardize industry participation and reduce the willingness of the aviation industry to submit voluntary safety data to the USAST.

USAST risk management processes fully rely on confidence that voluntarily submitted safety and security information is protected from disclosure. Protection of voluntarily provided system-level safety issue information allows the USAST to appropriately assess the information without the potential negative effects from involuntary release of the information. The voluntary contributions from aviation stakeholders to the USAST are core components to the success of these teams and programs. Without certain protections for USAST information, reports, data, and work products could not be protected by the U.S. Government, which would prevent the FAA from working with the aviation industry to develop proactive voluntary safety enhancements to mitigate systemic risk in the NAS.

Summary of the Protected Safety Information

A. Who may participate?

Entities eligible for participation include non-FAA core members, general members, and other invited participants of the USAST. These entities include air navigation service providers, air carriers and operators, crewmembers, aerospace industry manufacturers, aviation community safety teams, and aerospace industry associations or organizations ( i.e., labor unions, standards bodies, etc.).

B. What voluntarily provided information will be protected from disclosure?

1. All voluntarily provided information documented in meeting agendas, briefings, or minutes before, at, or after any USAST meeting or event that covers systemic aviation safety and security issues, emerging threats, changing risks, or accident precursors.

2. All voluntarily provided safety or security issue information submitted to and coordinated within the USAST. This includes but is not limited to the title of the issue, description, submitter information, supporting data provided by any non-government entity, and user feedback surrounding the issue.

3. All information, reports, data, and work products conducted through the USAST charted workgroups or aviation community safety teams related to the preliminary analysis of voluntarily provided safety or security issues. This also includes routine monitoring of voluntarily provided aviation safety data for known risks, emerging risks, and anomalies.

4. All information, reports, data, and work products from the safety risk assessment processes conducted by the USAST related to safety issues voluntarily submitted to the USAST. For a safety issue, this includes the identification of hazards, analysis of risk, assessment of risk, development of risk controls, safety enhancements, and related documentation of the safety risk and risk management processes.

5. All information related to identifying if a USAST participant has implemented a safety enhancement recommended by USAST that is reported to the FAA.

6. All information related to the level of safety enhancement implementation, and the results of implementation provided to the USAST that is reported to the FAA.

7. Reports, agendas, minutes, and other documents prepared by the USAST, aviation community safety team, or workgroup established by the USAST that is based on information related to the implementation of voluntary safety enhancements.

8. Any information voluntarily provided related to the implementation of safety enhancements and/or the effectiveness of these safety enhancements in mitigating underlying risks.

C. How can persons participate?

Eligible entities that comprise the USAST participate by voluntarily providing aviation system-level safety or security issue data to the USAST or its respective aviation community safety teams as part of the normal operating processes or on an ad-hoc basis. ( printed page 67895)

D. What is the duration of this protection?

Information provided to the USAST as part of its ongoing processes in support of the identification of systemic safety issues and implementation of safety enhancements will be protected indefinitely.

Summary of Findings

The FAA designates voluntary information received from the USAST related to potential system-level safety issues and safety enhancements as protected under 49 U.S.C. 40123 and 14 CFR 193.7 based on the following findings:

1. Summary of why FAA finds that the information will be provided voluntarily.

The core principle of the USAST is voluntary participation. USAST participants, who take part in the safety analysis, determine the feasibility of safety enhancements, and agree to implement the enhancements do so voluntarily. Contributions of safety issue information to the USAST are voluntarily provided by the aviation industry with the collective understanding that the information will not be disclosed and that it will be used to collectively improve aviation safety by all USAST's participants. The FAA receives the voluntarily provided aviation safety issues from the USAST.

2. Description of the type of information that may be voluntarily provided under the program and why the FAA finds that the information is safety or security related.

USAST participants voluntarily provide safety or security related information that identifies possible system-level safety issues in the NAS. A system-level safety or security issue is anything that involves a potential hazard that affects one or more segments of the aviation industry or affects multiple entities within a single segment of the industry. As part of the USAST's system-level safety issue lifecycle, the USAST relies on identification and voluntary submission of safety issues from the industry. USAST participants also voluntarily provide information about safety enhancements implementation, the method of implementation, the process to evaluate the implementation, and any other information, such as best practices related to the implementation of safety enhancements. The FAA finds that the information is safety or security related because it contributes towards achieving and measuring USAST aviation safety goals ( e.g., reducing the risk of fatal and non-fatal accidents.) by using voluntary, proactive, data-driven strategies to get results and develop collaborative safety interventions.

3. Summary of why the FAA finds that the disclosure of the information would inhibit persons from voluntarily providing that type of information.

USAST processes fully rely on confidence that voluntarily submitted safety and security information from any of the USAST chartered stakeholders, attendees, or representatives is protected from disclosure. The protection provided by this designation will encourage these participants to voluntarily report potential safety issues without fear of uncontrolled and involuntary public release of this information. Eligible entities part of the USAST will be reluctant to share sensitive safety information with the FAA if it might be subject to disclosure.

Additionally, release of the voluntarily provided information to the public may be incomplete, unreliable, or sensitive. The release of this information may adversely affect the USAST participants and the aviation industry, discouraging further voluntary information sharing. Protecting system-level safety issue information voluntarily provided through the USAST allows the FAA and USAST to appropriately assess the information and work with the aviation industry to create safety interventions.

Participation in the USAST is not required by regulation. The U.S. aviation industry also has wide discretion on how they leverage the voluntary safety enhancements to address the identified safety risk as the recommended enhancements are not required by regulation. Any disclosure of information listed above would have an adverse effect on aviation safety.

4. Summary of why receiving the information aids in fulfilling the FAA's safety and security responsibilities.

The FAA finds that receipt of safety issue information through the USAST aids in fulfilling the FAA's safety responsibilities because it provides early identification of potential hazards in the NAS, allowing the FAA to proactively address risk in the system. This offers the FAA a unique opportunity to work with the aviation industry to avoid incidents or accidents. The USAST can provide safety-related information that may not be available to the FAA from any other source and can help to improve the FAA's ability to modify procedures, policies, and regulations to improve aviation safety. The FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) safety goals, as highlighted in the DOT's Strategic Plan FY2026-2030, include “supporting voluntary government and industry information sharing”. With the information provided to the FAA through the USAST, the FAA and industry will be able to identify systemic aviation safety issues, emerging threats, changing risks, and accident precursors effectively and proactively and determine whether safety enhancements to address these issues are effective. This information supports the FAA's safety goals for proactive identification of systemic safety or security issues in the NAS.

5. Summary of why withholding the information from disclosure is consistent with FAA safety responsibilities and when withholding the information from disclosure would not be consistent with FAA safety responsibilities as described in 14 CFR 193.9.

Withholding such information from disclosure is consistent with the FAA's safety responsibilities because without voluntary contributions of safety or security issues from the aviation industry and information on the implementation of the safety enhancements, the FAA will not be able to proactively manage safety in the NAS.

Unless the FAA can provide assurance that USAST safety information will not be disclosed, the FAA may not receive information that would otherwise be used to improve aviation safety. Without this information, the FAA will be limited in their ability to understand the possible system-level safety issues that the aviation industry may be experiencing and take proactive steps to address those issues before any accidents or incidents occur in the NAS. Withholding the information from disclosure encourages entities to voluntarily provide it because they know it is protected once the FAA receives it.

Withholding the information from disclosure would not be consistent with FAA safety responsibilities as described in 14 CFR 193.9 when reports or other data involve possible criminal activity, substance abuse, improper use of controlled substances and/or alcohol, intentional falsification, reckless conduct ( i.e., an act (or failure to act) demonstrating a gross disregard for, or deliberate indifference to, safety or a safety standard), intentional conduct ( i.e., an act (or failure to act) while knowing that such conduct is contrary to a regulation or statute, or is otherwise prohibited), or generally demonstrate a lack of care, judgment, or responsibility. The protection described in this ( printed page 67896) proposed designation will not apply to information falling into these instances.

The FAA may disclose de-identified information, as set forth in part 193, to explain the need for changes in FAA policies and regulations. The FAA may (in consultation with the USAST) release information as set forth in part 193 to communicate its work with aviation safety communities or other third parties involved with the USAST to address system-level safety issues. In either of these situations, the FAA may release de-identified, aggregate, and summarized information (in consultation with the USAST) derived from information reported about the implementation of safety enhancements, or safety issue information provided through the USAST.

The FAA may provide USAST information to other government agencies only if each agency meets the requirements in 14 CFR 193.7(e). The FAA may provide USAST information to third parties only if the third party provides adequate assurance in writing that it has a safety or security need for the information, it will protect the information from further release, and it will limit access to those with a need to know to carry out safety responsibilities.

6. Summary of how the FAA will distinguish information protected under Part 193 from information the FAA receives from other sources.

Information received by the FAA from the USAST will be clearly labeled as follows to be protected under this designation:

WARNING: This information may be protected from disclosure under 49 U.S Code (U.S.C.) Section 40123 and 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 193.

In this way, the information protected under this order will be easily identified and distinguished from information the FAA receives from other sources.

How To Obtain Additional Information

You will find the FAA's order supporting this notice in the Dynamic Regulatory System, accessed via drs.faa.gov.

Final Designation

The FAA hereby designates the information submitted to the USAST as described in this designation to be protected under 49 U.S.C. 40123 and 14 CFR part 193.

91 FR 67893