# Presentation: 085538

## ECCAIRS

- Wietse Post
- Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
- Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen
- Reinhard Menzel
- Safety Analysis
- European Aviation Safety Agency
- 4 June 2008
- St Petersburg
- EU-FAA  Safety Conference

## Contents

**The ECCAIRS System**
- Objective
- From data to knowledge
- The ECCAIRS concept
- ECCAIRS use
- Status
**ECCAIRS taxonomies**
- Background
- Challenge
- Approach
- Taxonomy sources and development
- Taxonomy development tools

## Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est

**	****“****Knowledge is power”**
** ****	****Sir Francis Bacon**
**	****English author, courtier, & philosopher **
**(1561 - 1626)**

## ECCAIRS objective (1993)

**Improve air safety by bringing together the **_**knowledge**_** derived from the collection of incompatible occurrence reporting systems from various (member) States.**

## From data to knowledge

**No safety improvement  without **_**knowledge**_
- No _knowledge_ without analysis of data
- No data analysis without access to integrated data
- No integrated data without  accepted standard tools and standard taxonomies
**To have a successful aviation safety **_**knowledge**_** base the first task of ECCAIRS has been to create a stable foundation for the collection, integration and dissemination of incident data.**
- Co-operative network of EU authorities and investigation bodies
- Appropriate legislation at EU and national level
**Only then will it become possible to perform analysis on EU wide data**

## The ECCAIRS concept

**The ECCAIRS concept**

**Taxonomy**
**ADREP**
**2000**

**ECCAIRS **
**Reporting System**
**Directive 94/56/EC**
**Directive 2003/42/EC**

**MEPHISTO & DINER**
**Conversion and Integration platforms**
**Regulation (EC) No 1321/2007 **

**WebDAS/B.O. & DADIS**
**Regulation (EC) No 1330/2007 **

**Grapher, AWB, Exporter, API and 3****rd**** party tools like B.O. Mathlab**
**Jointly developed and shared tools**

## ECCAIRS use: EU AIB and CAA

**Source: ECCAIRS Portal 19-May-2008**

## Non-exhaustive list of other organisations

**Source: ECCAIRS Portal 19-May-2008**

## Status of ECCAIRS

**EU authorities and investigation bodies have effectively implemented a global and integrated EU wide accident and incident reporting scheme based on an international standard (ICAO), enforced by appropriate legislation and backed up by a suite of free reporting tools.**
**The same aviation community in Europe is now invited to start working on the aggregation and analysis of this data in order to extract knowledge that can be used to improve aviation safety.**
**The success of the project has lead to international recognition and application beyond the borders of the EU.**
**The main lesson learned is that there is no cheap, short term success possible. A long term vision, patience and a lot of determination are the key to success.**

**And now to part 2**
**ECCAIRS taxonomies**

## ECCAIRS  taxonomies

**Facilitating analysis of **
**safety data**
** ****emanating from**
**a cultural diverse environment**

## Background: EASA  - Europe

- 22 languages

- 62 reporting agencies (NAA’s / AIB’s)

- 31 States

- Different history
- and reporting cultures

## Safety Data Integration/Dissemination

**By law: based on EU regulation**
**Data to be provided to the European Commission**
- Accidents, serious incidents (initial info / final data report)
- Occurrences collected under the EU Directive 42/2003
**Access by EASA States**
**Access by EASA**

## Challenges

**Challenges**

**Various reporting cultures**
**Many different languages**
**Limited knowledge of English language and its use by data providers**
**Knowledge of languages of the data users limited (only knowledge of 7 languages in EASA Safety Analysis)**
**Translations are costly / time consuming**
**Volume of data**
**Mix of languages (22*21 possible combinations)**
**Subject experts required for translation**
**Consequence: textual safety data are of limited value for analysis**

## Approach

**Develop a “common language in which to express occurrence information”**
**Classify and encode data as much as possible**
**Requires rich coding system**
**Sufficient level of detail**
**Without being over-complicated to use**
**Translatable into the EASA languages**
**Note: ECCAIRS already has English/French/German versions**

## Source of taxonomies:  CAST-ICAO

**CAST-ICAO Common taxonomy team results:**
**Aircraft make/model**
**Engine make/model**
**Phases of flight**
**Occurrence categories**

## Source of taxonomiesECCAIRS Steering Committee

**ECCAIRS user community proposed changes**
**Operators and Aerodromes **
- Routine update
**More details on aircraft categories**
- To cater for the light aircraft (powered gliders, hang gliders etc)
**Enhance event types to provide more details for incidents**
- Aerodrome operations related incidents
- Incidents in general aviation
**Provide specific flight phases for gliders, balloons etc**
**Non-routine updates are coordinated with ICAO and major stake-holders**

## EASA sponsored taxonomy related change proposals

**Development of occurrence categories for helicopters**
**To support helicopter safety initiatives**
**Development of occurrence categories for light aircraft**
**Existing categories do not cover many of the General Aviation concerns**
**There is a need to support GA safety initiatives, and to**
**Allow the trending of the GA (light aircraft) safety performance**

## Taxonomy developments

**Done in close cooperation with FAA / NTSB and other international players**
**Goal: Integration of the data collected in Europe into the world wide aviation system**
**Wide distribution of ECCAIRS through ICAO**
**Exchangeability of data from Europe with Rest of the world**
**To support safety initiatives worldwide**
**To enhance the safety of the European citizens wherever they may travel.**

## Technical implementationTaxonomy editor (ECCAIRS 4.2)

- Detail tables

## Details of a table(events)

## Details Individual entry

- Detailed description

- Explanation

## Taxonomy editor

**Comfortable tool to update taxonomies**
**Automatic identification and flagging of changes**
**Export to other software possible**
**Used for ECCAIRS 4.0 to ECAIRS 4.2 **
**New tool for 4.3 under development (draft introduction late May)**

## Summary

**Harnessing safety data in Europe means adapting to cultural diversity**
**A “common aviation language” has been developed using a rich classification for reportable data**
**Efforts continue to update and harmonize the taxonomies with assistance of ICAO and major stakeholders (FAA / NTSB/ TSB Canada etc)**
**ECCAIRS is a common tool available to all States to implement a common taxonomy for safety data collection, exchange and analsysis.**

## Any questions?