SE-2 8/26/99

Implementation Plan for “Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

Statement of Work: (SE-2)

All operators should have standard operating procedures/training manual/chapter. This manual/chapter should address all projected normal situations crews/company personnel will encounter. This manual will address: use of checklists, what each person’s responsibilities are, use of available equipment, and expected procedures to be used during preflight, taxi, take-off, climb, cruise, descent, approach, missed approach, landing, taxi and parking. Use of line crews to develop new procedures increase acceptance and understanding of these procedures. Standard operating procedures for any new equipment will be developed, published, and trained before any new equipment is used/installed. Operators will train proficiency in their SOP’s and crews will use published company SOP’s.

Outcomes

To improve aviation safety by: 1. Ensuring that all operators establish flightcrew Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) that fit that operator’s particular operation. 2. Ensuring that all operators train their SOP’s and encourage all SOP’s be utilized in all normal operations.

Outputs

In order to provide guidance to the operators in establishing SOP’s for their particular airline, the following activities will need to occur: 1. ATA Training committee will facilitate, in conjunction with air carrier and association training groups, development of SOP templates for use by all FAR Part 121 operators in generating SOPs for each particular airline.

• Resources: ATA, RAA, Manufacturers, Operators, and member associations.
• Timeline: 3rd Quarter 1999
• Actions: Obtain a representative sample of air carrier SOP’s and other appropriate material for review. Review for standardization and generate a proposed SOP template.

2. An Advisory Circular (AC) will need to be written to publish the template for use in establishing each operator’s SOP’s.

• Resources: FAA (AFS-200), ATA, Operators and member associations
• Timeline: 2nd Quarter 2000
• Actions: AFS-200 to write AC describing specific subject areas to be addressed by air carrier SOP’s. The AC will not contain specific wording for the SOP’s, but will only contain guidance to the air carriers.

3. A Handbook Bulletin for Air Transportation (HBAT) will need to be written to provide guidance to the FAA Principal Operations Inspectors (POI’s) in incorporating the AC SOP template into the operators training and operations manuals.

• Resources: AFS-200, ATA, operators and member associations
• Timeline: 2nd Quarter 2000
• Actions: AFS-200 will write HBAT to provide guidance to all POI’s as it relates to oversight of air carrier operations and training programs.

4. Air carriers will adopt SOP’s and revise their training manuals and programs to incorporate the proposed SOP template items as appropriate for the technology of the equipment in the aircraft.

• Resources: ATA, RAA, Manufacturers, Operators and Member Associations
• Timeline: 3rd Quarter 2000
• Actions: Operators will revise their company training manuals and programs to incorporate as many SOP template items as appropriate for the technology of the equipment in the aircraft.

Relationship to Current Aviation Community Initiatives

The following documents provided recommendations to the aviation industry for the establishment and usage of SOP’s related to CFIT: 1. CFIT Training Aid (CD) sponsored by Boeing/FSF. Distributed internationally and posted on World Wide Web. 2. CFIT Training document published in 1997 3. Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) CFIT ALAR Report of November 1998 4. ICAO cover letter AN 11/37 of 3 December 1998

Lead Organization for Overall Coordination

• Lead: Operators (ATA, RAA, etc.), Member Associations (ALPA, APA, etc.)
• Supporting: FAA Flight Standards (AFS-200)

Programmatic Approach

The SOP Project team will first review a representative sample of company manuals (SOP, training, etc.) From that review, a template will be generated to include a compilation of the most important and pertinent aspects of each operators manuals as they relate to SOP’s. This template will then be provided to all operators via a newly written AC for their use in amending or establishing their own SOP’s. In addition, an HBAT will be generated to provide guidance to all POI’s to oversee their respective airline operation to ensure that company training programs and manual implementation are complied with in a standardized, uniform manner.

The goal of the SOP Project Team is to provide guidance to the operators through an SOP Template for the establishment of an airline’s respective manuals. The project team will not write or revise company manuals nor recommend one procedure over another. The intent of the team and the SOP template is to identify areas that should be addressed.

Key Products and Milestones

NOTE: All unknown dates will be revised to mirror dates found in associated SOP Gantt chart (in progress).

Table: Key Products and Milestones

Schedule and Resources Graphic

See Attached Gantt Chart (in progress)

Plan & Execution Requirements

To implement the associated CFIT SOP tasks identified within this implementation plan requires resources from the following organizations:

• FAA Flight Standards (AFS-200)
• Airline / Operators
• Airline Member Associations

Risk Description

Medium Risk. The development of the SOP template is a relatively low-risk activity. The only medium-risk items that can be identified at this point is the timeframe involved in coordinating, writing and implementing AC’s and HBAT’s and the willingness of the operators to review and revise their manuals based upon a new set of guidelines.

Risk Mitigation Plan

The intent of the project is to include the operators as team-members of the template design process. This will provide them the opportunity to voice concerns at the early stages of template design to hopefully mitigate and risks later in the process. The use of SOP’s has been encouraged through other industry activities such as the CFIT Training Aid, CFIT Training Document, Flight Safety Foundation CFIT ALAR report and the ICAO cover-letter accompanying the CFIT Training Document.

Impact on Non-FAR Part 121 or International Applications

Any SOP recommendations will improve the integrity of company manuals and training programs. Therefore, any International or Non FAR-121 operators will benefit from the SOP template, AC and HBAT guidance.

Related Safety Enhancements

SE002: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Related Outputs

• SE002: Advisory Circular 120-71