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ATSAP stands for Air Traffic Safety
Action Program
A voluntary, non-punitive Air Traffic
Controller safety reporting system
Used to identify and proactively
remove safety risks from the NAS
Designed based on the
fundamentals of a just culture
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Avoids fear of retribution and blame thereby
encouraging flow of safety related
information
Promotes trust and supports learning from
unsafe acts
It is neither blameless nor punitive, there will
always be difference between acceptable and
unacceptable behavior
Promotes constructive attitude which will
tend to prevent future violations
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AOV provides independent oversight and
monitors ATO operations to determine
compliance with standards and directives
ATO is responsible for the daily operation of
Air Traffic Control
NATCA is employee union to represent the
Air Traffic Controllers
Controllers may file:
 OEs/ODs/PEs/RIs/PDs
 Any potential safety risk to the NAS such as:
Poor or confusing airport signage
Unsafe policies or procedures
Equipment, software or automation problems
Traffic management initiatives that don’t properly
address sector needs
◦ Aircraft operating procedures & airspace
configurations
◦ Human factors (fatigue, scheduling…)
◦ Unsafe or inadequate training practices
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All air traffic personnel engaged in and
supporting air traffic services, and only to
events that occur while acting in that capacity
Events involving noncompliance as
determined by the ERC
Events caused by gross negligence or reckless
conduct are not accepted by ATSAP
In exchange for voluntary reporting,
 ATO won’t decertify or take disciplinary
action for events that are accepted into
ATSAP
 AOV will use lesser action or no action based
on the level of noncompliance with applicable
air traffic directives
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Safety Problem: Issues at a local, regional, or
national level related to policies, procedures,
equipment, automation, and publications,
deals largely with Systemic issues
Safety Event: Incidents which result in actual
or potential lost of separation or situations
that results in safety degradation in the NAS.
Examples are: OE/OD/PE, NMAC, RI, VPD,
military facility deviation, spill out, surface
incident, go arounds
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For each submitted reports, pre-analysis is
conducted by the analysts
Identifying and confidential information is
removed and the reports are made ready
Reports are added to respective ERC (Event
Review Committee meetings
Actual decision for each report is done by
the ERC during meetings
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ERC is composed of AOV, ATO, and NATCA,
with experts from areas such as Oceanic
Procedures, Flight Service, Tech Ops,
Automation etc.
There is one ERC for each service area and
each handle reports from its own service area
ERC meets every week, two to three days and
make decisions. If a decision is difficult to
make, the report is carried over to the next
meeting
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Act on problems based on reports
Generate AIR and CAR to fix problems by
coordinating with Facility Managers
Provides feedback to individual controllers by
coordinating with Fac Rep
Add proper taxonomies in reports and close for
future analysis and trending
Categorize as known or unknown issues and put
in watch list if necessary
Make corrective action recommendations for:
◦ individuals, like skill enhancement training
◦ Organizations, systemic correction
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ATSAP is a success story for the FAA and the
industry
The largest safety program in the world
50,000 reports in just three years
Hundred of positive changes in the NAS
Help build just culture where controllers
openly share their mistakes without fear of
punishment