WorkflowSafety, Quality & Security

Aviation Safety Reporting

Aviation safety reporting where every report is read, scored with the aircraft's history and routed the same day, and the safety analyst signs

Every report routed the same day, every repeat linked before it is scored.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo71reportsread overnight before the analyst arrived: 13 need her, 58 are ready to confirm with both readers agreeing
demo4BHighon the airline's risk matrix once two earlier reports on the same galley oven were linked; 2B Medium as a single report
target24hfrom filing to a classified, scored and routed report, for every report
target0clocks missedFAA Service Difficulty Reports in 96 hours, OSHA hospitalization reports in 24
In short

What is Aviation Safety Reporting?

Aviation safety reporting is how an airline collects, reads, classifies, risk-scores and routes the hazard and occurrence reports its employees file — pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, dispatchers and ramp agents. Aviation Safety Reporting does that work with eight AI agents: they read every report as it is filed, classify it in your event types, link the aircraft's history, score it on your risk matrix, check which notices apply and propose owners, and the safety analyst decides and signs.

How to choose AI for airlines: a buyer's guide to agentic AI solutions →

Updated

The problem

Why aviation safety reporting falls behind the reports

Aviation safety reporting starts with the people who see the hazard: pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, dispatchers and ramp agents. The FAA's SMS rule asks every Part 121 carrier for a confidential employee reporting system and for its data to be analyzed. In most safety offices a small team of analysts reads each narrative by hand, picks an event type, scores it on the risk matrix mostly from the report alone, decides whether the NTSB, the FAA, DOT, OSHA or EASA must be told and by when, and emails it to an owner.

The risk sits in the reports that look routine. The second and third report about the same oven on the same aircraft are each scored as if they were the first, so the pattern never reaches Maintenance. A Service Difficulty Report is due 96 hours after the reporting period and an OSHA hospitalization report within 24 hours, so a report read on day three has already missed its clock. And reporters rarely hear what happened, which is how a reporting culture goes quiet.

typical600reports a monthat one large airline, each one read and coded by hand
typical96hoursto file an FAA Service Difficulty Report after the reporting period (14 CFR 121.703)
typical24hoursto report an employee's in-patient hospitalization to OSHA (29 CFR 1904.39)
Where an analyst's hours go on one morning's overnight reportsestimated
By hand28 days
With the solution3.5 days
  • Reading narratives and pulling flight, tail, station and phase9 → 1 d
  • Choosing the event type and scoring on the risk matrix7 → 1 d
  • Looking up earlier reports, the tech log and MEL deferrals5 → 0.5 d
  • Deciding which notices apply and starting the clocks3 → 0.5 d
  • Routing to owners and writing back to reporters4 → 0.5 d

Estimated split for about 70 overnight reports at a large network carrier, by hand and with the solution, in analyst hours.

How it works

How a report moves

Eight specialist agents read, score, link and route every report, and a blind second reader checks them; the analyst decides and signs.

What comes in
Reports in5 channels · app, web, mailbox, paper, the acquired airline's form
Agents at work
Report Readerread, de-duplicate
Then
Classifierevent type
Second Readerblind vote
Then
Similar Reports Finderaircraft history
Risk Scorerthe airline's matrix
Then
Notice Checkersix rules, clocks
Router & Reporter Liaisonowners, thank-you
A person decides
Safety Analystdecides, corrects, signs
What comes out
Routed to owners
Notice clock started
Reporter thanked
One case, step by step

One cabin smoke report, from the reporter's words to its owners

On Corvane Airways flight CV 66 from San Francisco to Tokyo, a purser smelled burning electrical insulation at aft galley oven 3 of the 787-9 N834CV. She filed a confidential cabin safety report from Narita. Here is how Dana Whitfield, a safety analyst in Corporate Safety, works it with the agents the next morning, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 01Morning

    The overnight reports, already read

    Dana Whitfield · Safety Analyst

    Dana's Today screen says the agents read 71 reports overnight: 13 need her, 58 are ready to confirm with both readers agreeing, and 5 notices are open, the nearest the OSHA clock for a ramp injury at Denver, due today 15:10 MT. Each report that needs her shows the agents' reason first: “High · three events on one oven · FAA notice likely.” She can ask the agents about any report, aircraft, station or rule from the same screen.

    “8 more on the tray · 953 reports this month, 99.2% routed the same day.”

  2. 02One signature

    Fifty-eight Low reports, confirmed together

    Dana Whitfield · Safety Analyst

    The 58 Low reports where both readers agree on every field, and none needs a notice, wait off the tray. Dana reads a sample of five, sees where all 58 will go — Ground Safety 19, Technical Operations 14, Cabin Safety 10 and the rest — and confirms them with one signature. Every report is still logged one by one.

    “I have read the sample and confirm all 58; thank-you notes go to the reporters.”

  3. 03The tray

    SR-2026-18342 comes up, read and summarized

    The agents

    The report opens in the middle of the tray with a two-line summary Dana can have read aloud, and the reporter's own words below it; her identity is held by Safety. The Report Reader has found a second report of the same event from another flight attendant, 93% the same, and offers a merge. The Classifier proposes Cabin · smoke and fumes · galley equipment, mapped to the ICAO category SCF-NP, at 96%, and the Second Reader, reading blind, agrees.

    “This is the second time I have smelled this on this aircraft — I think it was the same oven last month.”

  4. 04History first

    The aircraft's history moves the score from Medium to High

    Similar Reports Finder and Risk Scorer

    The Similar Reports Finder links two earlier reports on oven 3 of N834CV — an electrical smell on Sep 29, scored 2D Low and sent to Inflight Services only, and a hot plastic smell with a tripped breaker on Oct 6, scored 2C Low — plus the Oct 6 tech log entry, the Narita work order deferring the oven under MEL 25-31-01 with its element insulation discolored, and a failed oven element on N829CV in July. On Corvane's matrix, two or more events on the same unit in 30 days make likelihood 4. The Risk Scorer moves the report from 2B Medium to 4B High and cites each step.

    “Three events on oven 3 of N834CV in 16 days. The first two were scored Low and never reached Technical Operations.”

  5. 05One decision left

    The two readers disagree, and Dana decides

    Dana Whitfield · Safety Analyst

    The Second Reader scores likelihood 3, Remote: the earlier two reports had no haze, so it reads this as the first event with haze, 3B Medium. Both arguments sit side by side. Dana chooses 4 Occasional, 4B High, with the reason code “Repeat on the same unit”, and the Risk Scorer keeps her decision as an example for the next report like it.

    The Risk Scorer never lowers a score a person set, and a High always goes to a person.

  6. 06The deciding question

    An FAA Service Difficulty Report is due Monday

    Notice Checker

    The Notice Checker finds an FAA Service Difficulty Report likely under 14 CFR 121.703(a)(5), due Mon, Oct 19, 09:00 PT. An NTSB notice under 49 CFR 830.5(a)(4) needs an in-flight fire, and none was reported, so one question decides it. Dana sends it to Maintenance Control; Owen Hartley answers that the teardown photos show no flame or soot, the insulation discolored and no burn-through. Dana starts the SDR clock for Reliability, Technical Operations, and the Notice Checker will remind the filer 48 and 24 hours before it is due.

    “Any evidence of flame or burning in the oven teardown?”

  7. 07Signed

    Routed to Technical Operations and Cabin Safety, and the purser thanked

    Router & Reporter Liaison

    The Router proposes Technical Operations, which owns the oven through Maintenance Control, with Cabin Safety second for the crew procedure, a 4-hour accept time for a High, and the VP Corporate Safety informed. The Reporter Liaison drafts a thank-you in plain words with no codes. Dana approves it, confirms and signs, and the report slides into its owners' lanes while the next one comes up.

    “Thank you for your report on CV 66. It has gone to the teams that own the aft galley ovens and cabin safety, and it is linked to two earlier reports about the same oven.”

  8. 08Every clock

    Notices and clocks, each with its clause and its filer

    Tom Brennan · Ground Safety Manager

    The Notices screen lists every clock the Notice Checker has tested against the NTSB, FAA, DOT, OSHA and EASA rules: the OSHA in-patient hospitalization report for the Denver ramp injury with 6 hours left and a draft ready for Tom Brennan, the DOT hazmat written report on Form F 5800.1 for a power bank fire, an EASA occurrence report under EU 376/2014, and the NTSB call operations control already made. The agents draft and remind; a named person files.

    “5 open, none missed this year.”

  9. 09Before it is late

    Owners see the reasons, the links and the clock

    Owen Hartley · Technical Operations

    Technical Operations' incoming lane now shows SR-2026-18342 with its 4B High score, the reason — the third event on oven 3 in 16 days, deferred at Narita — and the SDR due date. Owners see the reporter's role, never the name. The Router tracks accept times and nudges an owner before a report is late; one Medium report in this lane is already 6 hours late.

    Accept times: High 4 hours, Medium 2 business days, Low 5.

  10. 10Monday

    The weekly triage summary, written from every decision

    Marcus Lee · Manager, Safety Reporting

    The Trend & Learning agent drafts the summary for the Safety Review Board: 441 reports in the week, 99.1% routed the same day, 6 High, 0 notice clocks missed, and the two readers agreeing on 94.6% of fields. It flags cabin odor and fumes as rising, 23 reports and up 9, with the oven 3 repeat, and proposes rule R-14 so galley smells always reach Technical Operations. Marcus edits it and signs.

    “The agent drafts; the Manager edits and signs.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who touches a safety report.

The same cabin smoke report, seen by the four people at Corvane who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

DW
Dana WhitfieldSafety Analyst, Corporate Safety · Denver
Safety Analyst
Before
Starts the day with seventy overnight reports to read, code, score and route by hand, then chases owners by email.
Now
Opens the 13 that need her with the agents' reasons and sources beside each one, settles disagreements with a reason code and signs.
ML
Marcus LeeManager, Safety Reporting · owns the program and the weekly summary
Manager, Safety Reporting
Before
Rebuilds the weekly summary for the Safety Review Board by hand, and finds out late when two analysts coded the same event two ways.
Now
Approves rules proposed from analysts' corrections only after seeing the 90-day back-test, signs off any downgrade of a High, and signs a summary drafted from every decision.
ER
Elena RuizCabin Safety Manager · accepts every cabin report
Cabin Safety Manager
Before
Three oven smells on one aircraft can reach her as three separate Low reports while Maintenance never sees them.
Now
Receives each report with the linked history, the agents' reasons and the accept time, and accepts or returns it with a reason.
TB
Tom BrennanGround Safety Manager · ramp injuries, GSE and OSHA recordkeeping
Ground Safety Manager
Before
An injury report that sits a day is an OSHA clock already missed.
Now
Gets the OSHA hospitalization report drafted, with the clause and the hours left, the morning the report comes in.
Built on the engine

8 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Eight specialist agents read, score, link and route every report, and a blind second reader checks them; the analyst decides and signs.

Report Reader

Reads every report from the phone app, web form, safety mailbox, the acquired airline's legacy form and paper scans; pulls the flight, tail, station and phase from the operations schedule; finds second reports of one event.

  • Never changes the reporter's words
  • Offers a merge only above 90% and never merges on its own
  • Stops at once on ASAP and fatigue reports and hands them over
Classifier

Proposes the event type from the airline's list of 61, mapped to ICAO occurrence categories, with the sentences behind it.

  • Below 80% it says “I'm not sure” and shows both candidates
Second Reader

Re-reads the narrative blind, classifies and scores it on its own, and votes on every field.

  • Never sees the first proposal
  • Every disagreement goes to a person
Similar Reports Finder

Links past reports, tech log entries, MEL deferrals, work orders and flight data events on the same aircraft, system and station, and answers questions across all reports.

  • Links, never merges
  • Cites every link
Risk Scorer

Scores severity and likelihood on the airline's 5×5 risk matrix and shows how the aircraft's history moved the score.

  • Never lowers a score a person set
  • A High always goes to a person
Notice Checker

Tests every report against NTSB 49 CFR 830.5, FAA 14 CFR 121.703, DOT 49 CFR 171.15/171.16, OSHA 29 CFR 1904.39, FAA AC 70-2 and EU 376/2014; asks the deciding question, drafts the notice and starts the clock.

  • Never files with a regulator
  • Escalates to the Manager 12 hours before a due time
Router & Reporter Liaison

Proposes owners and accept times, reminds owners before a report is late, and drafts the reporter's thank-you and the “what we did” note.

  • Sends nothing to a reporter without approval
  • ASAP and fatigue reports handed over untouched
Trend & Learning

Writes the weekly triage summary from every decision, and turns repeated corrections into proposed rules tested on 90 days of reports.

  • Rules take effect only when the Manager approves
Safety Analyst and Manager

Decide every routing, approve every rule. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any report, aircraft or rule, in plain words

Ask about any report, aircraft, owner or rule, or tell the agents what to do. Every answer points to its source, and nothing changes without a person.

Why is SR-2026-18342 High?

Severity B, Hazardous: haze in the cabin from an electrical source. Likelihood 4, Occasional: it is the third event on aft galley oven 3 of N834CV in 16 days. As a single report it would be 2B Medium. The Second Reader says 3; you decide.

Which notice clocks run out first?

OSHA for the DEN ramp injury: today 15:10 MT, draft with Tom Brennan. EASA for the FRA rejected takeoff: Sat, Oct 17, 06:30 UTC. FAA SDR for N834CV oven 3: Mon, Oct 19, 09:00 PT. None missed this year.

Show every galley oven smell on the 787-9

Six reports in 2026; three on N834CV oven 3 in the last 16 days, and N829CV oven 2 failed in July.

Send galley smell reports to Technical Operations from now on

I can't change routing on my own. I drafted rule R-14: smell, haze or smoke with galley equipment adds Technical Operations. On the last 90 days it raises agreement with analysts from 93.9% to 95.1% and changes 31 reports, none wrongly. Marcus Lee approves it.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

TodayThe safety analyst's morning: 71 overnight safety reports read, 13 that need her with the agents' reasons, 58 ready to confirm, open notice clocks and the agents' log.
The trayOne safety report at a time: the two-line summary, the reporter's words, a likely duplicate, the event type with its ICAO category and the Second Reader's vote, and the conversation with the agents.
Risk with the aircraft's historyThe safety report on the 5×5 SMS risk matrix moving from 2B Medium to 4B High, the two readers' disagreement, and the linked earlier reports, tech log entry and Narita work order on the same galley oven.
When the two readers disagreeThe Risk Scorer's and the blind Second Reader's likelihoods side by side; the analyst decides with a reason code.
The notice and its clockAn FAA Service Difficulty Report under 14 CFR 121.703 with its due time, why no NTSB notice is needed, and Maintenance Control's answer to the deciding question.
Signed and routedThe safety report routed to Technical Operations and Cabin Safety, the reporter's thank-you approved, and the owner lanes it slides into.
Low reports, confirmed togetherA sample of the 58 Low safety reports both readers agree on, where they go, and one signature for all of them.
Notices and clocksEvery regulatory clock — FAA SDR, OSHA 1904.39, DOT hazmat, EASA occurrence reporting, FAA wildlife strike, NTSB and laser — with its clause, time left, status and the person who files.
Owners and accept timesEach owning department's incoming safety reports with the agents' reasons, accept-by times, late reports and a nudge.
Ask across all reportsA plain-words question across every safety report, answered with citations and the six matching reports, their risk, owner and status.
Weekly triage summaryThe summary for the Safety Review Board — reports, same-day routing, Highs, notice clocks, rising themes and owners — every figure linked to its reports.
Corrections and rulesAnalysts' corrections with their reason codes, and the routing rules proposed from them, each back-tested on 90 days of reports before the Manager approves.
Agent settingsAuto-routing of Low reports off by default, the confidence thresholds, and what each agent may never do.
Governance

Aviation safety reporting that stays cited, confidential and signed.

Every proposal cites its sourceEvent type, risk, links, owners and notices each show the reporter's sentences or the record behind them — the tech log entry, the work order, the clause — and every citation opens the passage.
A blind second reader on every fieldThe Second Reader never sees the first proposal. Agreement is shown on every field, and every disagreement lands on the analyst's tray with both arguments side by side.
A person confirms, with a reason, and signsThe safety analyst confirms every routing and every notice. A change carries a reason code — Repeat on the same unit, Narrative misread, Wrong owner, Severity understated or overstated, Duplicate — and the decision is signed.
The Manager signs what lowers risk or changes the rulesDowngrading a High, rerouting away from the owner of the failing system, every new routing rule and the weekly summary need the Manager, Safety Reporting. Rules are tested on 90 days of reports first, and nothing learns silently.
Reporter identity stays with SafetyOwners see the reporter's role, never the name, and the SMS administrator cannot read confidential narratives. ASAP and fatigue reports are handed to their programs untouched.
Agents never file, send or closeAgents draft and remind; a named person files with the NTSB, FAA, DOT, OSHA or EASA. Every step by an agent or a person is on a chained audit trail, kept 7 years, with an evidence pack per report for an investigation or an auditor.
Configuration

Your SMS Manual, not ours

Your event types, risk matrix, routing rules, notice rules and accept times are settings. Every change is a new version the Manager approves.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Let the agents route agreed Low reports without a personOffOff · On, with the Manager's sign-off, reviewed monthly
Classifier says “I'm not sure” below80%A confidence you set
Merges of one event offered above90%A confidence you set
Owner accept timesHigh 4 hours · Medium 2 business days · Low 5 business daysSet per risk band
Notice rules and who files each6 rulesNTSB 49 CFR 830.5 · FAA 14 CFR 121.703 · DOT 49 CFR 171.15 / 171.16 · OSHA 29 CFR 1904.39 · FAA AC 70-2 · EU 376/2014
Notice remindersFiler 48 and 24 hours before · Manager 12 hours beforeOn · Off, each
Risk matrix5×5, revision 6, SMS Manual chapter 4Changed only by the Accountable Executive's delegate
Who sees reporter namesSafety Analyst and ManagerPer role; owners see the reporter's role
Connections

Works with the systems a safety report already touches

Reporting channelsthe phone app, web form, safety mailbox, paper forms and an acquired airline's legacy form
Maintenance systemtech log, work orders and MEL deferrals, read-only
Operations schedule and crew rosterflights, tails and times; roles only, for owners and thank-you notes
Flight data eventsevents by flight, linked to the reports about them
OCC duty lognotices operations control has already made
Your SMS Manualevent types mapped to ICAO categories, the risk matrix and the routing rules
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
24h
from filing to a classified, scored and routed report, for every report
By handread in turn, days for some
Targetsame day, every report
target
0
notice clocks missed: FAA SDR in 96 hours, OSHA in 24 hours
target
100%
of High reports scored with the aircraft's history linked first
every High
history before the score

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate of where an analyst's hours go · “typical” = published figures (one large airline about 600 reports a month, HAL preprint; 14 CFR 121.703(d), Service Difficulty Report within 96 hours after the reporting period; 29 CFR 1904.39, in-patient hospitalization within 24 hours). 14 CFR 5.71, 49 CFR 830.5, 49 CFR 171.15 and 171.16, FAA AC 70-2, FAA AC 120-66C, EU Regulation 376/2014 and ICAO Doc 9859 are named as context only. Corvane Airways, Larkspur Air, their aircraft, flights and reports, and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What airline safety teams ask about aviation safety reporting.

What is aviation safety reporting?

Aviation safety reporting is how an airline collects, reads, classifies, risk-scores and routes the hazard and occurrence reports its employees file — pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, dispatchers and ramp agents. Aviation Safety Reporting does that work with eight AI agents: they read every report as it is filed, classify it in your event types, link the aircraft's history, score it on your risk matrix, check which notices apply and propose owners, and the safety analyst decides and signs.

What does 14 CFR 5.71 require of an airline's safety reporting system?

The FAA's SMS rule asks for a confidential employee reporting system and for its data to be analyzed. In this solution every report is read and classified, the reporter's identity is held by Safety while owners see only the role, and a weekly triage summary is drafted from every decision for the Manager to sign.

When is an FAA Service Difficulty Report or an NTSB notice needed for cabin smoke?

The Notice Checker tests each report against 49 CFR 830.5, 14 CFR 121.703, 49 CFR 171.15 and 171.16, 29 CFR 1904.39, FAA AC 70-2 and EU 376/2014. An SDR for smoke or fumes from a component failure in flight is due within 96 hours after the reporting period; the NTSB must be told at once of an in-flight fire. The Notice Checker quotes the clause, asks the one question that decides it — on the sample report, whether the oven teardown showed any flame — and drafts the notice with its due time. A person starts the clock and files.

How are safety reports scored on our SMS risk matrix?

The Risk Scorer scores severity and likelihood on your own matrix — 5×5 in the sample, from the SMS Manual — after the Similar Reports Finder has linked earlier reports, tech log entries and MEL deferrals on the same aircraft and system. It shows how the history moved the score, so a third event on one galley oven is scored 4B High, not 2B Medium.

How do you catch an AI classification that is wrong?

A Second Reader re-reads every report blind and votes on every field; any disagreement goes to the analyst with both arguments. Below 80% confidence the Classifier says “I'm not sure” and shows both candidates. In the sample week the two readers agreed on 94.6% of fields, and analysts corrected 28 proposals with a reason code.

Are ASAP and fatigue reports triaged with the other safety reports?

No. They are handed to their own programs untouched: ASAP reports to the Event Review Committee under the program described in FAA AC 120-66C, fatigue reports to the fatigue program. The agents do not read or score ASAP or fatigue narratives, so the protections of those programs hold, and they stay off the notice list because those programs check their own notices.

Do people stay in control?

Yes. Agents never file, send or close anything. The safety analyst confirms every routing and every notice with a reason code and signs; downgrading a High, a new routing rule and the weekly summary need the Manager, Safety Reporting. Letting agents route agreed Low reports on their own is off by default and needs the Manager's sign-off.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your event types, risk matrix, routing rules, notice rules and a sample of past reports — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own de-identified reports first.

See it on
your reports.

We'll run Aviation Safety Reporting on a sample of your own de-identified safety reports, event types and risk matrix.