ATSAP: What You Need to Know
Overview
The U.S. National Airspace System is the safest in the world. Aviation safety professionals are committed to making it even safer by increasing safety culture through a confidential voluntary non-punitive reporting system called the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (ATSAP).
ATSAP allows controllers to report errors without fear of reprisal. Safety events are not always near-collisions or potential aircraft accidents. In most cases, they are breaches of procedure or safety buffers that require investigation to determine cause and how to prevent recurrence. The open reporting of safety concerns by controllers and other FAA employees results in an environment where errors are openly reported as never before.
With over 140,000 reports, ATSAP is the largest aviation Voluntary Safety Reporting Program in the world. ATSAP proactively improves the overall safety of the NAS. Each quarter, corrective actions based on ATSAP reports result in an average of 35 improvements in current operations.
NATCA’s collaborative efforts with the FAA to increase reporting through ATSAP and to address safety issues that contribute to high-risk events are essential. Continued collaboration will continue to help NATCA and the FAA develop and implement meaningful strategies to continue to reduce risk in the NAS.
Following an event, or identification of a safety problem, employees can file a report online through the ATSAP website.
For further reading on ATSAP, check out these articles:
