A REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF FLIGHT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INCIDENTS REPORTED TO THE AVIATION SAFETY REPORTING SYSTEM

Abstract : This report covers the activities related to the description, classification and analysis of the types and kinds of flight crew errors, incidents and actions, as reported to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) database, that can occur as a result of the use of Flight Management Systems (FMSs) to fly within the national Airspace System (NAS). The analysis of the ASRS FMS-related database reports was conducted for the purpose of determining the types and kinds of design-induced problems that flight crews are having with FMSs that can result in the occurrence of errors, incidents and other operational problems. It was believed that review of these reports would provide a useful background and understanding of the FMS use domain (i.e., the flight environment) and offer a window into the cockpit setting, enabling the identification of categories of difficulties that flight crews appear to have with the FMS and its subsystems. Those elements of the FMS operational logic that are identified as potentially problematic will then be investigated in more detail in the Description and Characterization Study that is also ongoing. Together, these two documents will result in a clearer understanding of the design-related FMS contributors to pilot error.