The FAA has designated specified voluntary U.S. Aviation Safety Team information as protected from disclosure indefinitely. Its October 28 Federal Register notice covers both reports of safety issues and information about whether recommended safety measures were implemented and how they worked.
What the protection covers
The U.S. Aviation Safety Team, or USAST, brings industry and government participants together to address aviation safety issues. The FAA says protection from disclosure encourages participants to provide information they might otherwise withhold.
The listed categories include voluntarily supplied safety information in meeting agendas, briefings and minutes; submitted issues and supporting data; analyses and risk assessments; and information about implementation and effectiveness of voluntary safety enhancements.
The notice says designated information will not be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act or other laws except as provided in the order and the FAA's implementing rules, 14 CFR part 193. Information supplied through the team's ongoing processes for identifying systemic safety issues and implementing safety enhancements is protected indefinitely.
Where the designation stops
The designation applies only to non-FAA members of the USAST, aviation community safety teams and chartered workgroups. The notice explicitly says it is not an opportunity to protect data the FAA obtains non-voluntarily and then provides to the team.
It also excludes information involving possible criminal activity, substance abuse, improper use of controlled substances or alcohol, intentional falsification, and specified reckless or intentional conduct. The exclusions also cover reports or data generally demonstrating a lack of care, judgment or responsibility. These are boundaries of this designation, not a finding that any participant engaged in that conduct.
What may still be released
The FAA may disclose de-identified information under part 193 to explain the need for changes in its policies and regulations. In consultation with USAST, it may also release information under those rules to communicate its work with aviation safety communities or other third parties involved with the team.
In either situation, the notice permits de-identified, aggregate and summarized information, in consultation with USAST, derived from safety-issue reports or information about implementation of safety enhancements. That permission is not a promise to publish every implementation result.
The notice points readers to the FAA's Dynamic Regulatory System for the supporting order. The record reviewed here does not establish an actual withholding decision, identify a public implementation-results report or measure whether the designation changes aviation risk.