By Rick Aurand

As a very hard of hearing Flight Instructor, I want deaf and hard of hearing pilots to be aware of the Aviation Safety Reporting System, in which pilots who think they may have violated some FAA regulation, no matter how slightly, can fill out an "incident report" and submit it to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration--and avoid possible discipline by the FAA.

Pilots who do this can be confident that their identification has been removed from the report to protect their privacy. The FAA will not use ASRS reports submitted to NASA in any enforcement action, except in accidents or criminal offenses.

We commercial pilots use it all the time, and so should private pilots. (It must be delivered or mailed within 10 days). I carry several of these forms in my flight bag at all times.

Suppose a deaf pilot was landing at an uncontrolled airport and had just turned base leg. All of a sudden another aircraft cuts in front of the deaf pilot and lands. Unknown to the deaf pilot, the pilot of the other aircraft had declared an emergency because of a crankshaft breaking and engine failure on the Unicom frequency and announced his or her intentions.

The deaf pilot does not abandon his or her approach to give the aircraft declaring an emergency the right-of-way, therefore violating FAR 91.113. All the deaf pilot is aware of is that he or she had a near midair collision and does not find out what happened until after landing. This makes the pilot aware that he or she cannot hear, therefore did not realize there was an emergency. "Forget about it since there was no accident," says the other pilot.

Here is where a potential problem could exist for the deaf pilot, resulting in a possible license suspension: Suppose someone else calls the nearest Flight Standards District Office, reports a near miss and gives the FSDO the pilot's tail number as well as the tail number of the other aircraft. The FSDO investigates several days later, and since the other pilot declared an emergency, he or she is covered.

However, the deaf pilot is in violation of the above mentioned FAR. The deaf pilot later gets a notification from the FAA in the mail of possible certificate action.

If, on the day of the incident the deaf pilot had filed an ASRS report explaining his or her version of what happened, all the deaf pilot would have to do is show that such a report was filed. Since there was no crime and no accident, if a finding of violation is made by the FSDO, there will be no civil penalty or certificate suspension.

The program uses NASA as a third party to receive ASRS reports from pilots. This program invites pilots, controllers, flight attendants, maintenance personnel and other users of the National Airspace System-in fact, anyone--to report to NASA incidents involving the safety of aviation. The areas covered by this program include everything from ground operations to departure, en route, approach and landing operations and procedures, air traffic control, flight crew and air traffic control communications, near midair collisions, aircraft maintenance and record keeping, and airport conditions and ground services (refueling, etc).

The effectiveness of this program in improving aviation safety depends on the entering as much information as possible on the report (here more is better!). Based on information obtained from these reports, the FAA will take corrective action to fix the defect or deficiency. The pilot may also send in reports that provide data for improving the current system and planning for a future system.

After NASA receives an ASRS report, it will be screened for criminal offenses, such as intentionally carrying narcotics or buzzing your friend's house. Those will be referred to the Department of Justice and the FAA. Any information mentioning an accident will be referred to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the FAA. (Reports discussing criminal activities or accidents are not de-identified prior to their being sent to these agencies.)

Filing a report of violating the FARs despite one's best knowledge can save a deaf pilot from FAA enforcement action.

Each Aviation Safety Report has a tear-off portion that contains the information identifying the person submitting the report. This tear-off portion (at the top of the form) will be removed by NASA, time-stamped, and returned to the person who submitted the form. This will provide the submitter with proof that he or she filed a report on a specific incident or occurrence.

The identification strip section of the report form provides NASA personnel with the means by which the reporter can be contacted in case additional information is sought in order to understand the report more completely. Except in the case of reports describing accidents or criminal activities, no copy of an ASRS form's identification strip is created or retained for ASRS files. Prompt return of identification strips is a primary element of the ASRS program's report de-identification process and ensures the reporter's privacy.

All information that might identify those who file reports and parties named in them will be deleted, except for reports mentioning criminal activities or accidents. This de-identification is normally done within 72 hours after NASA receives the report, if no further information is requested from the person filing this report.

The FAA will try to enforce the statute and the FAR in a manner that will reduce or eliminate the possibility of the incident happening again. In determining what enforcement action to take in a particular case, the following factors are considered:

Nature of the violation; whether the violation was inadvertent or deliberate; the certificate holder's level of experience and responsibility; the attitude of the violator; the hazard to safety of others which should have been foreseen; the action taken by employer or other government authority; the length of time elapsed since violation; the certificate holder's use of the certificate; the need for special deterrent action in a particular regulatory area, or segment of the aviation community; and the presence of any factors involving national interest, such as the use of aircraft for criminal purposes.

The filing of a report with NASA concerning an incident involving a violation of an FAR is considered by the FAA to show a positive attitude. Such an attitude will hopefully tend to prevent future violations. Even if a finding of violation is made, neither a civil penalty nor certificate suspension will be enforced if:

The violation was inadvertent and not deliberate; the violation did not involve a criminal offense or accident; the person has not been found in any prior FAA enforcement action to have committed a crime or any had any FAR violations within the past 5 years before the date of the occurrence; and the person proves that, within 10 days after the violation, he or she completed and delivered or mailed a written report of the incident or occurrence to NASA under ASRS.

Copies of reporting forms (NASA ARC Form 277, Aviation Safety Report series) may be obtained free of charge from FAA Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO) or Flight Service Stations, or directly from NASA, ASRS, P.O. Box 189, Moffett Field, CA 94035-9800.

The ASRS forms are in PDF format at: http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/forms/PDF_Files/general.pdf.

IDPA member Rick Aurand lives in Harrisburg, Pa., and is a flight instructor at Carlisle Airport (N94).