TSB Transportation Safety Summit

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Safety Managements

Scott Wilson
Vice-President, Flight Operations, WestJet
Ottawa, Ontario, 22 April, 2016

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Slide 2 : Safety Management

• Canada has been recognized as a leader in adopting a safety management system (SMS) approach to safety oversight
  • Air carriers are required through regulation to manage operational safety through a data-driven, safety-culture approach
  • This methodology places a greater emphasis on results and promotes carriers to develop, achieve and maintain viable safety-first cultures and operations
  • The ability to manage your operations and safety programs through proven performance (data) versus a pure “compliance” based system is powerful.

Slide 3 : Safety Management

• Transport Canada guidance describes safety oversight as:
  • “…fundamental to the safety management process.  Safety oversight provides the information required to make an informed judgment on the management of risk in your organization.” (Transport Canada Advisory Circular (AC) No. 107-001)
• Safety oversight is achieved through two principal means:
  • Reactive processes for managing occurrences, including event investigation and analysis;
  • Proactive processes for managing hazards, including procedures for hazard identification, active monitoring techniques and safety risk profiling

Slide 4 : Safety Data Sources

• Reactive Data :
  • Occurrence/incident reports
• Proactive Data :
  • Hazard reports
  • Flight data monitoring (FDM)
  • Fuel monitoring program
  • Regulatory audits/inspections
  • Line observation safety audits CADORS
  • Training/assessment feedback
  • Accident/incident investigation reports
  • Internal/external audits (IOSA)ions

Slide 5 : WestJet's Safety Promise

• Safety is one of WestJet's core values because we care deeply about the healthe and safety of one another and our guests.
• Every WestJetter, partner and vendor is responsible for ensuring the highest level of safety at WestJet and is committed to :
  • Identifying hazards and risks before they become incidents
  • Sharing information on all safety issues
  • Reporting any condition, action or process that may affect safety
  • Continuous improvement
• We pledge that no disciplinary action will be taken against any WestJetter for reporting a safety concern, except in cases of willful non-compliance with regulations or company procedures or when a criminal act has been committed.
• Signature du président et CEO, Gregg Saretsky.

Slide 6 : Westjet's Safety Culture

• A strong culture is critical to strong safety performance; in particular a “just” safety culture that;
  • encourages accountability
  • rewards reporting of hazards
  • places a high value on open and honest communication
  • empowers an employee group that is concerned and cares about the company and each other
• Our Safety, Security and Emergency Response systems are integrated and supported throughout the organization – caring, transparent and effective.

Image with the mention “we succeed because I care”.

Photo of the left side of a WestJet airplane where we see the logo of the company.

Slide 7 : Aircraft data systems

Diagram of a plane detailing how an Aircraft Condition and Monitoring System (ACMS) works.

Slide 8 : Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU)

Table describing the components of a digital flight data acquisition unit (DFDAU).

Slide 9 : Data validation

Image showing the status of an incident as analysed by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

Pilot Report : FO was pilot flying. Cleared a visual approach, we were following the RNP short gate path to follow traffic closer in and slower.  Changed to tower frequency and queried spacing to make sure all looked good.  As I spoke with tower, the a/c captured the set altitude and was not set to field elevation upon crossing the first RNP waypoint. Resulted in a/c high on approach by the time new altitude was set. Path was recaptured but at 1000ft the a/c was too fast for a stabilized approach. Executed a normal go around to a normal landing.

Slide 10 : Flight data monitoring (FDM)

• Primary objective of WestJet's FDM program:
  • To identify operating trends which indicate existing or future risks to flight safety and to resolve them in a proactive manner
• Secondary and tertiary objectives:
  • Help maintain effective safety barriers
  • Help identify and determine underlying causes of procedural deviation
  • Provides rich data to improve and/or validate training programs, operating procedure changes, maintenance programs and operational efficiency initiatives
  • Data tells the what – not the why; it is important that flight data forms an input alongside the many complimentary safety programs, ensuring the best safety outcomes possible.

Slide 11 : Flight data monitoring (FDM)

• Identified data is first reviewed by a pilot association gatekeeper who will initiate a crew call for validation, context and discussion of operating irregularities.
• FDM is not intended to monitor the performance of individual pilots; access to identifying data strictly limited to:
  • WestJet Pilot Association (WJPA) gatekeepers;
  • An FDM analyst;
  • The Manager, Flight Safety (FDM Program Manager); and,
  • The Team Lead, Safety Data Systems
• Identifying information from the database will be deleted within 2 months of capture – all remaining analysis is of de-identified data..

Slide 12 : Flight data monitoring (FDM)

• One of the successful programs utilizing FDM data is the management of de-stabilized approaches
• Boeing defines a stabilized approach as meeting the criteria below no later than 1,000 feet above field elevation:
  • aircraft in the final landing configuration; (gear down and landing flap)
  • power setting appropriate for aircraft configuration;
  • airspeed no greater than target +20 knots and trending towards target; and,
  • on glide-path or assumed 3 degree glide-path.

Slide 13 : Event set criteria

• Event set criteria are analysed and used to drive awareness at our higher rate airports/runways through flight plan FDM alerts.
  • Airports with higher than system average destabilized rates are readily identifiable and actively managed.

Image of a warning issued by WestJet, and associated cautions.

Slide 14 : WestJet's Safety Targets

• WestJet's stated safety goal is to reduce our unstable approach rate to zero
• Current focus on Intl. destinations is to bring the unstable rate in line with the average rate of <1.5%
• 500' unstable rate remains relatively steady at ~0.30%.

Graphic showing the pourcentage of unstable approaches at 1,000' and 500' in 2008 to 2015.

Slide 15 : Unstable Approach Rates

• Trans-border destinations such as Las Vegas traditionally see higher rates of unstable approaches
• Active data driven focus on reduction through engineered solutions (RNP and RNAV visual approaches) and awareness through route qualifications, flight plan remarks and line and simulator training.

Graphic showing the pourcentage of unstable approaches at 1000' AFE in the region of Las Vegas, during the years 2010 to 2015.

Image of a flight plan showing the zones where visual approaches are required.

Slide 16 : Planes Winglets

• Ailettes divisées Scimitar prévues pour la flotte B738
• Split Scimitar Winglets planned for the B738 fleet
• The ventral fin winglet will contact the ground with a body pitch angle of 10 degrees and a body roll angle of 7 degrees
• Use of flight data analysis to validate past operating envelope
• Similar data analysis used in SOP development for the introduction of  first B737-800 tail strike risk model.

Photo of a Boeing 737-800 airplane where the left winglet is in foreground.

Slide 17 : Pitch at landing

Graphic showing the relation between the pitch at landing angle and the flight altitude of a Boeing 737-800.

Slide 18 : Safety data outcomes

• Your next incident is likely already in your data:
  • Results are as clear as they are predictable; we are bound to handle and use data appropriately and responsibly
  • “Not knowing” is not acceptable
  • The better we get at sourcing and identifying data streams, the better we have to get at effectively driving effective, corrective outcomes
  • A robust reporting culture will lead to a comprehensive, data driven, forward looking, performance based safety risk management system.

Slide 19 : Thank you

Photo of a WestJet airplane on a runway.