Description of Driving Event:
Poor Flight Operations Definition of Roles and Responsibilities for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Program
Lesson(s) Learned:
The chain of safety responsibility for the operation of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft is complex and unclear.
Recommendation(s):
Sort out and clear up the SOFIA chain of flight operations safety responsibility.
Evidence of Recurrence Control Effectiveness:
The chain of flight operations safety responsibility of SOFIA is as follows: Within NASA, the Center Director at the Ames Research Center (ARC), the designated Lead Center for SOFIA, has the responsibility to ensure the safety of SOFIA, including flight operations. The Center Director has a Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Office, which ensures that Agency policies for safety are followed, as well as an Airworthiness and Flight Safety Review Board (AFSRB), which provides specific oversight for aircraft airworthiness. These two mechanisms for safety oversight report directly to the Center Director and work closely and regularly with the SOFIA Program Office at ARC, which directs the SOFIA contractor team. An experienced NASA Flight Operations Manager for SOFIA carries the responsibility within the SOFIA Program Office to ensure that safety of flight operations receives the utmost attention in contractor activities. Further details follow, starting from the lowest level to show the foundation of flight operations safety embodied in the SOFIA program wherein aircraft operations will be performed by United Airlines (UAL). The first level of aircraft operational safety responsibility, working from the bottom-up, is that SOFIA aircraft operations and maintenance will be accomplished by UAL, the SOFIA contractor for aircraft operations, under UAL Operations/Specifications, which meet or exceed the operations rules established by appropriate Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR), Airworthiness Directives, and Service Bulletins. The program will be overseen and certified by the FAA for FAR compliance. Appropriate clearance and signoffs, as mandated by UAL Operations/Specifications, will be the responsibility of UAL. NASA policy also requires effective NASA oversight for safety. This is accomplished by NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) as the designated Lead Center within NASA for SOFIA. At ARC, as with programs at other NASA Centers, the Center Director delegates overall program management for SOFIA to the SOFIA Program Manager, reporting directly to the Center Director to ensure visibility. Directly supporting the SOFIA Program Manager is the NASA Flight Operations Manager for SOFIA, experienced in aircraft flight operations and qualified to make routine SOFIA flight operations approval decisions. This individual, a senior experienced operations expert and pilot, also has the current responsibility for ensuring that that appropriate expertise in flight operations and flight safety is incorporated into the current design and development of SOFIA and into the planning for SOFIA flight operations. In addition, to ensure matters of safety and airworthiness receive the utmost attention and visibility, the ARC Center Director has in place two other mechanisms. First, there is an independent Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Office at ARC that works closely with the SOFIA Program Office, but reports directly to the Center Director and has direct ties to the NASA Headquarters S&MA Office to ensure overall Agency policy on safety is followed. This ARC S&MA Office has direct and on-going access to the ground and flight operations activities of the SOFIA contractor team. Second, the ARC Airworthiness and Flight Safety Review Board (AFSRB) provides airworthiness oversight for SOFIA aircraft modifications and mission equipment installations. The AFSRB reviews the SOFIA aircraft design, related technical analysis, development testing and all associated documentation, and provides airworthiness recommendations to the Center Director for conduct of test flights, for initiating routine flight operations, and for reinitiating flight operations following any subsequent, significant aircraft modifications. Concurrence in the approval of development and checkout flights will be required from both the AFSRB and the Head of the ARC S&MA Office. Safety oversight as structured above by ARC management was previously agreed to by the NASA Headquarters Office of Management Systems (Code J), with the cognizance and concurrence of the NASA Headquarters Offices of Space Science (Code S) and S&MA (Code Q). In a more recent organizational change prompted by an internal NASA review, ARC is establishing an Aviation Management Office to have certain management responsibilities for all aircraft operations at ARC, recognizing that two non-NASA organizations (U.S. Army and U.S. Forest Service) also conduct flight operations at ARC. The details of these responsibilities, and in particular their inter-relationship with the previously approved oversight structure for SOFIA outlined above, are under development at this time.
Documents Related to Lesson:
N/A
Mission Directorate(s):
- Exploration Systems
- Aeronautics Research
Additional Key Phrase(s):
- Administration/Organization
- Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel
- Aircraft
- Policy & Planning
- Safety & Mission Assurance
Additional Info:
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