CAST’s goal is to significantly increase public safety by adopting an integrated, data-driven strategy to reduce the fatality risk in commercial air travel. Several events in the late 1990s were the impetus for the formation of CAST.
At that time safety officials realized that with the growth in air traffic a corresponding increase in aviation safety was needed. Both industry and Government had been searching for a reliable way to choose wisely among many deserving actions to reduce the accident fatality risk and improve aviation safety.
Two Government reports on aviation safety provided the framework for the formation of CAST. The White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security report released in February 1997 challenged the Government and industry to reduce the accident rate 80 percent over 10 years. The National Civil Aviation Review Commission report followed up in December 1997 with a recommendation that the FAA and industry work together to develop a comprehensive integrated safety plan to implement many existing safety recommendations and develop performance measures and milestones to assess progress in meeting safety goals. The Commission also recognized that the global nature of aviation demanded that aviation safety needed to be addressed worldwide, not just in the United States.
The FAA and industry determined their safety advocacy work was complimentary and CAST was formed in 1997.
Please read this paper for more historical perspective on CAST: Improving Aviation Safety: Collaborative Government and Industry Initiatives
The CAST model:
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Identifies the top safety areas through the analysis of accident and incident data.
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Charters joint teams of experts to understand underlying contributing factors to events.
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Identifies and implements high-leverage interventions or safety enhancements to reduce the fatality risk in these areas.
The CAST model has been extremely successful in the United States. Safety experts reported that implementing the most promising safety enhancements contributed to reducing the fatality risk in commercial air travel in the United States by 83 percent from 1998 to 2008.