Regional Aviation Safety Group - Pan America (RASG-PA)
The RASG-PA is the first multi-regional effort in the world with respect to the analysis and development of risk mitigation strategies for the safe operation of commercial aviation. The Group was established in 2008, and since its formation, ANAC actively participates in the coordination of activities and of group's management, whose current goal is to reduce the risk of fatalities for regular operations of commercial aviation by 50% by the year 2020, considering the year 2010 as reference. It is noteworthy that the reduction of the fatality risk in the region by 2013 was 24%, and the expectation is that the goal will be exceeded by 2020.
ANAC is a member of RASG-PA’s Executive Committee and co-chair of the Pan-American Regional Aviation Safety Team (PA-RAST), subgroup responsible for carrying out the risk mitigation initiatives for commercial aviation. The RASG-PA was formally recognized by ICAO and is now a fundamental part of the Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP), high-level Safety policy of ICAO. Its composition includes representatives from Industry (aircraft manufacturers, airlines), 34 States and 19 Territories in the Americas, and International Organizations such as IATA, CANSO, Flight Safety Foundation, IFATCA, IFALPA, among others. Brazil, represented by ANAC, led recently the review of RASG-PA’s Strategic Plan and the RASG-PA Communication Plan, and continuously coordinates the technical meetings for the elaboration of data-driven risk mitigations.
RASG-PA’s History
In 2005, ICAO initiated a major review of the Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP), whose first edition was published in 1997. Among the conclusions of the reviewing group, it was expected a creation of Regional Groups to promote advances in Safety provided by the Global Aviation Safety Roadmap (GASR). These groups would be composed of Civil Aviation Authorities, Regional Multinational Organizations and Industry representatives, with the support of the respective Regional Offices of ICAO.
From the second half of 2008, the ICAO Regional Offices for North America, Central America and the Caribbean (ICAO-NACC) and South America (ICAO-Lima) concluded their efforts for the implementation of a Pan—American group and held, between 10 and 14 November 2008, the first meeting of the Regional Aviation Safety Group - Pan America (RASG-PA), on which were approved its Terms of Reference and administrative structures, as well as the agenda for the following years.
Currently, RASG-PA produces initiatives to improve Safety of commercial civil aviation, focusing action on the four areas that represent the majority of accidents, such as: Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), Loss of Control in Flight (LOC-I), Runway Excursion (RE) and Mid-Air Collision (MAC), according to statistics from the region and the action recommended by the GASP. Such initiatives are developed after data analysis of the actual operations of the Airlines in the region, identifying "hot spots" (or local points of interest), that guide the prioritization of Safety Enhancement Initiatives.
The Safety initiatives developed by RASG-PA cover three categories for risk mitigation: Training (largely provided by the industry), Technology (design solutions in aircraft and their embedded systems) and Regulation (role of States, with their respective Civil Aviation Authorities, and IATA). Much of the work done under the RASG-PA took almost exclusive basis from the CAST (Commercial Aviation Safety Team), an older US initiative which shares similar structure and objectives.
In order to mitigate and control the level of risk exposure in these areas, RASG-PA developed, through observations and monitoring, a knowledge exchange and dissemination program as part of their actions. Within this program, seminars, meetings and other open events are regularly planned and delivered to the civil aviation community.