A recent federal appellate court decision gives us an opportunity to remind pilots about the "get out of jail free" aspect of the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). This decision is important because it reverses an FAA interpretation of the "inadvertent" exception to the program that has been problematic for pilots. ASRS provides the free flow of safety information to the FAA and others by inviting reports from the persons most likely to encounter unsafe conditions in our national airspace system. The FAA has adopted a method by which it can get information anonymously and confidentially through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which acts as a third party to receive and de-identify the reports before any information is passed on to the agency. The reporter can recieve a waiver of any sanctions.
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