Airline LOSA (fixed-wing)

Hazards that threaten the safety of flight deck operations have been historically scrutinized in the early days of Line Operations Safety Audits (LOSA). LOSA programs quickly evolved to use threat and error management as the heart of routine monitoring operations. LOSA programs follows this typical structure:

How LOSA Works

Observation: Trained observers (often pilots or safety experts) ride along in the cockpit during regular flights, watching crew performance without interfering.

Focus Areas: LOSA evaluates human factors, procedural adherence, crew resource management (CRM), and how threats (e.g., weather, technical issues) or errors (e.g., miscommunication) are managed.

Data Collection: Observations are recorded anonymously and de-identified to encourage honest behavior and protect crew members.

Analysis: Data is aggregated to spot trends, such as recurring errors or exemplary safety practices, providing a snapshot of operational safety culture.

Collected data are analyzed internally or with consultants to help determine organizational strengths and weaknesses. Opportunities for improvement are also developed.

Helicopter LOSA

During the 1990s, LOSA methodology developed around jump-seat observations on regularly scheduled flights. Ground safety performance noticeably improved for these three frequently cited examples:

  • Delta Airlines;
  • Quantas; and
  • Continental Airlines.

Today many larger, well-respected helicopter operators, such as Caverton and CHC, strive to capitalize on benefits that LOSA has proven to provide to other aviation industry segments, including:

  • Maintenance LOSA;
  • Ramp LOSA; and
  • Fixed-wing flight operations' LOSA.

LOSA Highlights

Proactive: Identifies risks before they lead to incidents, unlike reactive investigations.

Non-Punitive: Crews aren’t penalized for mistakes observed, fostering trust and participation.

Systemic View: Looks beyond individual performance to assess organizational processes and training.

 

 

Cabin LOSA (C-LOSA) Program

For over 20 years, flight LOSA has proven to be a very valuable safety tool. LOSA's foundation is the Threat and Error Management (TEM) model.  Threat and error management believes that threats and errors are integral parts of aviation operations and must be managed.

The principles practiced in other LOSA programs hold true with cabin LOSA (C-LOSA). Cabin LOSA is a new program that seeks to realize safety benefits of other LOSA programs, including:

  • Flight LOSA;
  • Maintenance LOSA; and
  • Ramp LOSA.

LOSA Purpose & Benefits 

Risk Mitigation: Highlights latent threats (e.g., unclear checklists) and error patterns (e.g., distractions during critical phases).

Safety Culture: Reinforces a positive, learning-focused environment.

Regulatory Alignment: Supports Safety Management Systems (SMS) requirements from bodies like ICAO and FAA.

Operational Improvement: Informs training programs, procedure updates, and resource allocation.

Maintenance LOSA (M-LOSA)

For over five years, the FAA and major airlines have been taking LOSA principles developed for fixed wing operators and working to apply the same methodology to aviation maintenance operations.

This LOSA methodology is based on threat and error management (TEM). Once threats and errors have been identified in daily routine operations, observation data are analyzed to help design countermeasures to address the identified threats and errors.

Maintenance LOSA (M-LOSA) follows the same workflow and inferential statistical analysis that other types of LOSA practice.

Historical Perspective

LOSA originated in the 1990s through collaboration between the University of Texas and airlines like Delta, and it’s now widely adopted globally. It’s often paired with tools like Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) for a fuller safety picture.

Since 2010, LOSA is used worldwide among all aviation industry segments, including military aviation operations.

 

 

Ramp LOSA (R-LOSA)

In 2007, Flight Safety Foundation published a report citing the aviation industry was losing an estimated $5 billion annually due to ramp damage to aircraft.

A subsequent FAA report said that Ramp LOSA "holds promise as a means of reducing the incidents and accidents in ramp and maintenance operations because LOSA enables ramp and maintenance workers to identify and develop methods to address threats and errors before they lead to an incident or accident."

Sources: "Moving to Maintenance," Flight Safety Foundation, AerosafetyWorld, October 2011