Regulations and Government
ATC Safety Program Comes Under Scrutiny

A program that lets air traffic controllers voluntarily report safety concerns without fear of reprisals has come under criticism from the Transportation Department’s inspector general, who told Congress that “significant improvement” is needed to find the root causes of safety risks.

The FAA modeled the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (Atsap) on another voluntary safety reporting system used by selected airlines. Known as the Aviation Safety Action Program (Asap), that mechanism promises airline employees that no punitive or disciplinary actions will be taken as a result of reporting errors that could affect safety, provided those errors are not the result of gross negligence or illegal activity.