FAA Endorsed RA Tool Removes Subjectivity And Streamlines The Process

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) launched a tool which effectively combines safety management system-required risk assessment with convenience at the Air Charter Safety Foundation's 2010 Air Charter Safety Symposium on March 3. The association's new online risk assessment tool, NATA RA Check, combines a highly comprehensive FAA-endorsed risk assessment tool with the automation necessary to make its use quick, easy, and accurate, NATA says.

NATA says its RA Check fully automates the FAA-published Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT), a worksheet-based tool designed to consider the probability, severity and weighted value of 38 leading accident causal factors. Developed by FAA officials, respected aircraft operators, and other industry representatives, the FRAT is designed to identify potential hazards prior to flight and weigh the risk associated with each hazard through a five-step process.

To use the FAA-published tool, operators must create numerical thresholds that trigger additional levels of scrutiny prior to a flight. RA Check removes subjectivity and standardizes results, saving operators time and money while improving safety. RA Check streamlines data-entry processes and provides further convenience as it is fully integrated with the Computing Technologies For Aviation (CTA) Flight Operating System (FOS).

Also at the symposium, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Hart commented on the importance of creating a balance between safety and productivity in the pursuit of safety management.
"RA Check fulfills a vital role in safety management programs with the perfect combination of sound safety risk assessment methodology and convenient automation features," said NATA President James K. Coyne. "Safety and compliance tools such as RA Check and IC Check are greatly improving the business balance between safety and productivity." 
 

NATA says the RA Check key benefits include:

• Streamlines processes.
• Automates the criteria of the Turbine Aircraft Operators Subgroup (TAOS) Flight Risk Assessment Tool formula and returns an online response.
• Integrates with CTA's FOS, limiting manual data entry.
• Features automatic and user-generated email alerts for risk assessment reports and risk factor questionnaires, which may be viewed and addressed on your Smart Phone.
• Raises situational awareness by focusing only on factors that pertain to each particular flight.
• Alerts crewmember about proactive safety measures for a particular flight.
• Reduces training time, standardizes results and removes subjectivity.
• Sets realistic operational thresholds.
• Takes the most comprehensive risk assessment methodology and makes it as easy to implement as the most basic of models.

The program was developed, and is hosted and managed by, NATA.

FMI: www.nata.aero/racheck