Aeronautical Information Manual

4/20/23

AIM

Section 7. Safety, Accident, and Hazard Reports

−

1. Aviation Safety Reporting Program

The FAA has established a voluntary Aviation Safety Reporting Program designed to stimulate the free and

unrestricted flow of information concerning deficiencies and discrepancies in the aviation system. This is a

positive program intended to ensure the safest possible system by identifying and correcting unsafe conditions

before they lead to accidents. The primary objective of the program is to obtain information to evaluate and

enhance the safety and efficiency of the present system.

This cooperative safety reporting program invites pilots, controllers, flight attendants, maintenance

personnel and other users of the airspace system, or any other person, to file written reports of actual or potential

discrepancies and deficiencies involving the safety of aviation operations. The operations covered by the

program include departure, en route, approach, and landing operations and procedures, air traffic control

procedures and equipment, crew and air traffic control communications, aircraft cabin operations, aircraft

movement on the airport, near midair collisions, aircraft maintenance and record keeping and airport conditions

or services.

The report should give the date, time, location, persons and aircraft involved (if applicable), nature of the

event, and all pertinent details.

To ensure receipt of this information, the program provides for the waiver of certain disciplinary actions

against persons, including pilots and air traffic controllers, who file timely written reports concerning potentially

unsafe incidents. To be considered timely, reports must be delivered or postmarked within 10 days of the incident

unless that period is extended for good cause. Reports should be submitted on NASA ARC Forms 277, which

are available free of charge, postage prepaid, at FAA Flight Standards District Offices and Flight Service

Stations, and from NASA, ASRS, PO Box 189, Moffet Field, CA 94035.

The FAA utilizes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to act as an independent

third party to receive and analyze reports submitted under the program. This program is described in AC 00

−

46,

Aviation Safety Reporting Program.

−

2. Aircraft Accident and Incident Reporting

a. Occurrences Requiring Notification.

The operator of an aircraft must immediately, and by the most

expeditious means available, notify the nearest National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Field Office

when:

An aircraft accident or any of the following listed incidents occur:

(a)

Flight control system malfunction or failure.

(b)

Inability of any required flight crew member to perform their normal flight duties as a result of injury

or illness.

(c)

Failure of structural components of a turbine engine excluding compressor and turbine blades and

vanes.

(d)

Inflight fire.

(e)

Aircraft collide in flight.

(f)

Damage to property, other than the aircraft, estimated to exceed $25,000 for repair (including

materials and labor) or fair market value in the event of total loss, whichever is less.

(g)

For large multi-engine aircraft (more than 12,500 pounds maximum certificated takeoff weight):

(1)

Inflight failure of electrical systems which requires the sustained use of an emergency bus powered

by a back-up source such as a battery, auxiliary power unit, or air-driven generator to retain flight control or

essential instruments;

Safety, Accident, and Hazard Reports

−