Encourages Incident 'Self-Reporting'

Delta Air Lines training subsidiary Delta Connection Academy has signed an historic safety program document with officials from the North Florida Flight Standards District Office of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Representatives with the Academy tell ANN the program is the first of its kind in the General Aviation sector of the industry.

The program, known as the "Aviation Safety Action Program" (ASAP), was modeled on similar programs that have been used with great success in the airline industry for many years. Delta says ASAP will afford instructor pilots, maintenance technicians, and flight students the ability to have safety issues addressed and corrected quickly, and in most cases without unnecessary punitive action.

"We at Delta Connection Academy believe that this program will bring safety to a new level in the general aviation sector," says Captain Gary Beck, President and CEO of Delta Connection Academy and former Senior VP and Chief Pilot for Delta Air Lines. "It is only through the commitment of our Safety and Flight Standards departments as well as officials at the North Florida FSDO that this program has become a reality. It will provide unparalleled amounts of information from which safety enhancements can be made for the benefit of the flying public."

ASAP is designed to encourage "self-reporting" of incidents so that corrective actions can be implemented in order to enhance safety. The program has members of Delta Connection Academy and the FAA on a committee that decides a course of action that will best serve the individual(s) concerned and the industry as a whole.

The signing marks the end of a 30-month initial acceptance period and ushers in the beginning of an 18-month trial period (demonstration phase) for the first ASAP program to operate under the provisions of 14 CFR part 141 in the world.

FMI: www.deltaconnectionacademy.com