Frequently Asked Questions

What is CAST?
CAST is a U.S. government-aviation industry partnership that has developed an integrated, data-driven strategy to reduce the commercial aviation fatality rate in the United States.

What is the CAST goal?
Reduce the U.S. commercial aviation fatality risk by at least 50 percent from 2010 to 2025 and continue to work with our international partners to reduce fatality risk in world-wide commercial aviation.

What is the CAST approach to improving safety?
The CAST process is straightforward: Analyze causes of past accidents, identify areas where changes may have prevented them, implement promising safety enhancements, measure results, and repeat the process.

What is a safety enhancement?
A safety enhancement is the adoption of a procedure or training, or installation of equipment that will eliminate the cause of an accident.

Does CAST address general aviation and helicopter operations?
CAST addresses Part 121 scheduled airliner operations. General aviation is being addressed by an organization similar to CAST called the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee. The helicopter community formed the International Helicopter Safety Team using the CAST model to improve helicopter aviation safety.

Why does the safety accident rate for CAST differ from the FAA safety accident rate?
CAST only addressed Part 121 (commercial aviation operations), did not include ramp accident fatalities and was based on a five-year-moving average. CAST defined a fatal accident as those where a fatality to passengers or crew occurred.

The 65 percent accident reduction rate used by the FAA is based on calculations of commercial data accident rate over the past 10 years and covers Party 121 and Part 135 (general aviation operations). The calculations include ramp accidents and accidents where the only fatalities were not on the airplane.

Which categories of accidents has CAST addressed?
At the time of CAST's formation, the following accident categories were the most prevalent: approach and landing, loss of control, controlled flight into terrain, runway incursions, mid-air collisions, and uncontained engine failures. CAST commissioned and conducted teams to address all these categories, as well as cargo-related accidents, maintenance-related accidents, wrong runway departures, and turbulence. Combined with other initiatives, CAST's activities have significantly reduced the occurrence of accidents in the United States.

What is the cost savings associated with the CAST Safety Plan?
The safety enhancements put in place by the CAST Safety Plan are predicted to save the industry more than $600 million each year. These savings are in cost avoidance (not profit), including loss of life, aircraft, devaluation of stock prices, insurance fees, and other indirect legal costs.

What is the cost of implementing the Safety Enhancements in the CAST Safety Plan?
The cost of implementing the safety enhancements was projected to be only $500 million, spread out over 10 years (1998 through 2007). The accident cost per flight was $76. Implementation of the most promising safety enhancements was expected to reduce this cost by $56 per flight, saving the industry more than $600 million a year.

What is CAST doing to reduce the accident rate worldwide?
CAST is promoting new government/industry safety initiatives throughout the world. Accident rates and causes vary by region and do not lend themselves to "cookie-cutter" solutions. International organizations that are members of CAST are the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA). Other international participants include the International Federation of Air Line Pilots (IFALP), Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC), Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), and International Air Transport Association (IATA). CAST has established links to other safety initiatives, such as the COSCAP Bangul Accord Group, the Regional Aviation Safety Group - Asia Pacitiv, The Regional Aviation Safety Group - Pan America, the European Aviation Safety Group, the Regional Aviation Safety Group - Middle East and the COSCAP Commonwealth of Independent States.