Let’s start by introducing two terms: the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) and the Confidential Aviation Safety Reporting System.

The Confidential Aviation Safety Reporting System collects a large number of reports from frontline personnel such as pilots, air traffic controllers, and maintenance personnel. It identifies defects or loopholes in the current civil aviation operation system and serves as primary data for human factors research, helping to improve the civil aviation system and ensure its safe operation.

Human factors have always been a major cause of aviation accidents. Improving human factors has become the primary pathway to reducing accident rates and enhancing aviation safety levels. The establishment of the Confidential Aviation Safety Reporting System creates a convenient and fast channel for aviation practitioners to report unsafe events, playing a significant role in promoting aviation safety.

Regarding the basic knowledge of ASRS, the following two links are highly recommended. One is an explanation from the Sino Confidential Aviation Safety Reporting System (SCASS), available here. The other is from Taiwan’s TACARE (TAIWAN Confidential Aviation safety REporting system), available here.

ASRS reports and their responses can be queried online. For aviation enthusiasts, this is also a learning opportunity. For instance, reports from Taiwan’s TACARE system are available here, and reports from China’s SCASS are available here.

Below, I have selected a couple of interesting cases to share.

The first is a Pilot’s feedback on ATIS services at Taoyuan International Airport. Their broadcasts last nearly 2 minutes, which is indeed a bit long, isn’t it? I listen to the ATIS at Haneda Airport; even during a typhoon, it’s only about 30 seconds. So, subjectively, 2 minutes is indeed quite stressful for busy pilots during the Descent phase.

Looking at the civil aviation authority’s response, they decided to maintain the status quo. However, I feel this answer seems to be dodging the issue a bit. They believe it is necessary to add the required information to D-ATIS and therefore hope pilots will make more use of ACARS to receive and print out the information via data link to save time. So, why not just reduce the voice ATIS appropriately? Perhaps it is just a matter of adaptation. Pilots who frequently fly to Taoyuan Airport have already adapted to this, so they arrange their time reasonably to handle it. But if it’s your first time flying there and you aren’t mentally prepared, you might get flustered.

The other is a Pilot’s feedback on unstable ILS glideslope signals at Xiamen Airport. During the Descent at around 500 meters, the glideslope signal suddenly shifted downward. Fortunately, the pilot maintained the original rate of descent, and the signal returned to normal after a while. This is truly a headache. Which signal should you trust? If it turns out to be an instrument malfunction rather than an issue with the glideslope signal, what then?

Looking at SCASS’s response, it feels less meticulous than Taiwan’s TACARE, and their authority seems limited, similar to a website where experts answer questions. Therefore, while their response judged that the phenomenon might be caused by signal interference, they pushed the responsibility for investigating and solving the problem to the airline rather than addressing it directly. Perhaps this is also an adaptation issue for pilots; many domestic airports may have this problem. Pilots constantly learn at work not to be deceived by momentarily unstable signals and gain experience. However, from an outsider’s perspective, it always feels like this doesn’t solve the problem at its root.