There’s More to a FRAT…the Operational Workflows That Determine Go/No Go

Welcome back to Jump Seat. In this edition we would like to share some operational workflows that the integration between ARINCDirect and VOCUS FlightRisk technologies provide that can vastly improve the efficiency and safety for your operation.

Overview 

Flight Risk Assessment Tools (FRATs) are intended to assess and mitigate risks ahead of a flight.  But there is more to the process than simply identifying the risks.

Challenge 

When risks identify deviations with Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs), Aircraft Flight Manuals, your Flight Operations Manual, and/or a safety lesson learned within the operation, the operator may require a ‘Waiver’ to actually approve the deviation before takeoff. The waiver explains the problem, justifies why the crew believes it is still safe to proceed, why the risk is low and can be accepted by the business, and recommends the risk mitigation strategy to be followed to realize the mission safely. The waiver is normally reviewed by a manager or management team, and they decide if the flight is a go or no-go accordingly. This process can often be cumbersome, decoupled from the FRAT itself, and take time to process, let alone be difficult to track progress against during the high pace of operations.

The second aspect to safe flying is the criticality of debriefing the flights after landing. Crews should take the time to debrief how the flight went, were there any surprises, could there have been a different way of making the flight even better or safer, etc. Formally capturing this type of information, processing it, learning from it, sharing it across the operation, and subsequently incorporating the lessons learned into future FRAT processing can really foster continuous improvement like nothing else. Debriefing though can be cumbersome, take time, and often times not result in the realization of lessons that push the operation forward.  

Solution 



ARINCDirect’s integration with FlightRisk includes both a Waiver feature and a Debrief feature. Both of these embedded elements of FlightRisk help simplify the process, enhance visibility across the operation, and ensure that lessons learned are not only captured, but continually utilized to fly as safely as possible.

Waivers:

FlightRisk users have the option to submit waivers for approval on specific flights (e.g. situations such as aircraft performance different than established procedures, extended duty days, crew pairing, and runway availability to name a few). This feature provides a formalized ‘deviation from established procedures’ process from submission through a review/approval process to maintain safety standards. Users can request a waiver and submit it for approval, while the operation will review and disposition the waiver and be able to track types, dates, and status of waivers over any specified timeframe to utilize in your safety program.

Initiating a Waiver from the Risk Assessment inside the FlightRisk Application. FlightRisk’s native Risk Assessment can be found at the View Risk Assessment in FlightRisk at the bottom of the Risk Assessment document in ARINC

Debrief:

FlightRisk includes a debrief functionality, allowing crew to report what went well, what could have gone better, and lessons learned from each flight. Through debrief data, the operator can glean safety insights and improve awareness of potential hazards. As debriefs are completed, FlightRisk automatically generates insights on templates and individual questions. The AI analysis inside FlightRisk provides a summary based on responses to the debrief questions, noting serious concerns, key trends, notable events, and recommended actions. 

Initiating a Debrief inside the FlightRisk Application. FlightRisk’s native Home page can be found at the Safety tab and FlightRisk Analysis subtab, at the Access FlightRisk button

Results 

By leveraging the ARINCDirect/FlightRisk integrated technology our customers are setup to truly realize continuous improvement and fly as safely as possible.  

Did You Know?

• FlightRisk is included in your ARINCDirect subscription at no additional cost. 
• Including a FlightRisk report with any flight plan is as simple as checking FlightRisk Summary or Detailed checkbox in the “Include with:” section on the Create Flight Plan page. 
• Administrators can default FlightRisk Summary or Detailed reports to be included in every flight plan from the My Company tab and Tails subtab on the website. Each Tail has a FlightRisk section where you can default inclusion of either Summary or Detailed reports.
• VOCUS SMS can also be purchased as an add-on subscription which will provide a full SMS solution for your flight department. 
• Polaris Aero is conducting training sessions to further explain the value of the FlightRisk integrations with ARINCDirect for more information see the link below. 

Useful Links

• To register for upcoming webinars related the FlightRisk refer to the Announcements widget on the Izon Portal.