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Aviation Safety Exam Questions and Answers 2025.
List three strategic objectives of ICAO and discuss their importance in
international aviation. - Answer 1) Transparency and sharing of safety information
Greater involvement of regional safety organization
Increased cooperation between regulators and industry stakeholders
- The ICAO is important to international aviation in that they are the organization tasked
with the safety, security, and sustainability of international civil aviation.
Chapter 1 p. 5, p. 2 (respectively)
Discuss the significance of the Paris Convention of 1919. - Answer The second Paris
Convention was held to deal with the technical, operational, and organizational aspect of
civil aviation, and the proceedings of the convention was ratified by 38 states.
Chapter 1 p. 3
What were the important accomplishments of the Chicago Convention of 1944? -
Answer
- Complete modernization of the basic public international law of the air.
5)Technical and operating aspects reviewed such as airworthiness of aircraft, ATC, and
air navigation services.
- Regions and regional offices established.
7)Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO) established until the
permanent ICAO came into force.
- ICAN was dissolved and the Havana Convention was superseded.
-Additional information in each of those areas found on pg 4
Chapter 1, p. 4
List three major functions of the FAA and discuss some of the activities that
support these functions. - Answer Functions:
- Regulating civil aviation to promote safety
10)Encouraging and developing civil aeronautics
- Developing and operating a common system of air traffic control
Activities:
Safety regulation (minimum standards of manufacture, operation, and maintenance)
Airspace and air traffic management (safe utilization of the navigable airspace)
3)Air navigation facilities (construction and instillation of visual and electronic aids to air
navigation)
- Additional functions and additional activities found on pg 4
Chapter 1, p. 6
What was the significance of the Air Mail Act of 1925? - Answer The act allowed the
Post Office Department to transfer air mail service from the military to private
operators.
Chapter 1, p. 7
Describe the major provisions of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, and discuss the role
of the aeronautics branch. - Answer The major provisions authorized the regulation of
aircraft and pilots in interstate and foreign commerce; provided federal support for
charting and lighting airways, maintaining emergency fields, and making weather
information available to pilots; authorized aeronautical research and development
programs; and provided for the investigation of aviation accidents.
-The Aeronautics Branch was formed to oversee the implementation of the new laws.
Chapter 1, p. 8
Distinguish between the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) and the Civil Aeronautics
Board (CAB). - Answer The CAA was was created in 1938 with the passage of the Civil
Aeronautics Act, and was responsible for safety programs and economic regulations
which included route certificates, airline tariffs, and air mail rates. In June of 1940,
under the Reorganization Act of 1939, the CAA was transferred back to the Department
of Commerce, and the CAB was created and was responsible for regulatory and
investigatory matters.
Chapter 1, p. 9-
Discuss some of the factors that lead to the passage of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958,
and identify several of the safety provisions of this act. - Answer The midair collision
over the Grand Canyon helped promote congressional authorization of increased levels
of safety-related research and more federal inspectors which ultimately lead to the
Federal Aviation Act of 1958. Some of the safety provisions of this act included minimum
standards for the design, materials, construction, and performance of aircraft engines,
propellers, and appliances, reasonable rules and regulations and minimum standards for
inspections, and reasonable rules and regulations governing the reserve supply of
- Additional safety provisions (and in more detail) found on pg 7-8.
Chapter 1, p. 7-
What was the primary reason for the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978? -
Answer Because Congress believed that it would increase competition, enhance
passenger service, and reduce commercial airline fares. There was also widespread
dissatisfaction with CAB policies.
Chapter 1, p. 12
Describe the major provisions of the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration
Act of 2010. - Answer A very long and detailed list of the new regulations included in the
Act can be found in Chapter 1, p. 14-16.
List the four industry voluntary safety programs described in the Airline Safety and FAA
Act of 2010. - Answer 1) Aviation Safety Action Plan (ASAP)
Flight Operational Quality Assurance Program (FOQA)
Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA)
Advanced Qualification Program (AQP)
Explain the evolution of the EPA. - Answer Before the establishment of the EPA there was
no single integrated agency to systematically address air, water, and land pollution, an
issue that affected the daily lives of every person in the US. The EPA was established in
the executive branch of government in 1970, and was created to enable coordinated and
effective government action on behalf of the environment.
Chapter 1, p. 16
Highlight the major environmental acts relevant to aviation, giving examples of each. -
Answer 1) Clean Air Act (this law included exhaust emissions of smoke from aircraft
engines and venting of fuel emissions into the atmosphere).
2)Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (gave the EPA authority to control
hazardous waste from "cradle to grave", meaning the EPA controlled all aviation
hazardous waste from generation to transportation to treatment, storage, and
disposal).
3)The Noise Control Act (tightened noise emission standards permitted by aircraft in the
aviation industry).
-A list of all the acts passed by the EPA found between pages 17-22. They all affected
aviation in some way.
Chapter 1, p. 18, 18-19, and 21 (respectively)
Explain the evolution of OSHA. - Answer Before OSHA was established the responsibility
for occupational safety and health rested with individual states, and the industrial sector
was rampant with a wide range of exposures that maimed or killed workers. Most
notable was the textile fire of 1911 that killed 146 textile workers because most of the
exits had been blocked in order to prevent theft. This motivated federal intervention,
which ultimately lead to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act of 1970.
Chapter 1, p. 22-
Discuss the major OSHA acts that are relevant to aviation, giving examples of each. -
Answer 1) Lead standard introduced in 1978 (affected aviation battery maintenance and
aircraft painting and stripping)
2)Medical and exposure records standardized 1980 (introduced such things as testing for
blood and other potentially infectious material exposures for flight attendants or other
aircraft cleaning crew)
3)Electrical standards updated 1981 (affected aircraft manufacturing and assembly, and
hanger and other maintenance shop activities).
Chapter 1, p. 24-
Discuss the organizational structure of the ICAO, and describe the functions of its
three governing bodies. - Answer Organizational Structure:
ICAO headquarters are in Montreal, Canada, with seven regional offices throughout the
world. These regional offices are very important to coordinate international aviation
policy and standards.
Three Governing Bodies:
What does Section 601(b) of the FA Act say about an air carrier's responsibility for
safety? - Answer The FA Act recognizes that the holders of air carrier certificates have a
direct responsibility for providing air transportation with the highest possible degree
of safety.
Chapter 2, p. 43
Why are most day-to-day inspections, reviews, and sign-offs performed by the airlines,
not the FAA? Give examples of how an air carrier might demonstrate its inability or
unwillingness to carry out its duties as set forth by the FA Act. - Answer The aviation
system depends on self-inspections as it is simply not possible for the FAA to make
every inspection on every airplane in every location around the world. Unwillingness
of an air carrier to carry out its duties set forth by the FA Act include:
Repetitive noncompliance with minimum standards
- Lack of knowledge and understanding of minimum standards
- Inaccurate record keeping procedures
- List given in more detail on pg.
Chapter 2, p. 44
How has inspector workload been affected since airline deregulation? Why has it been
difficult attracting inspectors to major metropolitan areas? - Answer Inspector workload
has been greatly affected by airline deregulation. Every time a new airline has been
formed, another airline places a new type of aircraft into service, or two airlines have
merged, flight standards have been changed - certifications that require a page-by-page
approval by the FAA. As to the second question, I couldn't find the answer in the textbook
and so asked my professor, and he said that as an FAA inspector of 20 years, there was
no difficulty attracting inspectors to major metropolitan areas, and to ignore the question.
You may want to ask your professor to see if you get a different answer.
Chapter 2, p. 45-
Explain the tendency for inspectors to focus on records during maintenance-
base
Explain the rulemaking process of OSHA and the EPA. - Answer OSHA can initiate new
standards on its own or if petitioned by other parties of relevance. If it is determined by
OSHA that a specific standard is warranted, one or more of several advisory committees
may be asked to work on specific recommendations. The EPA rulemaking process is
similar to that of OSHA. Initially, an authorized agency decides that a regulation may be
needed, and the EPA then researches the need for the regulation and proposes it if
needed. The proposal is then listed in the Federal Register (as is the proposals for
OSHA) and public comment is recorded and discussed.
Chapter 2, p. 54, 58 (respectively)
Discuss the organizational structure of OSHA and describe the functions of its nine
directorate offices. - Answer Directorate of Administrative Programs (p. 50)
Directorate of Construction, and Directorate of Enforcement Programs (p. 51)
Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, Directorate of Training, Directorate of
Standards and Guidance, and Directorate of Information Technology (p. 51)
Directorate of Evaluation and Analysis, and Directorate of Technical Support and
Emergency Management (p. 53).
Discuss the organizational structure of OSHA, and describe the functions of its 13 major
offices. - Answer The EPA is comprised of 13 major offices and implements its regulatory
authority through 10 regions across the country. Lists and details of the 13 offices found
on pages 56-
Discuss the role of ICAO and NTSB in international aviation accident investigations. What
is an accredited representative? - Answer The ICAO is charged with accident
investigations on a worldwide basis, with the law (Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention)
stating that the responsibility for an investigation belongs to the member state in which
the accident or incident occurred, that all ICAO states that may be involved must be
promptly notified of the accident occurrence, and that other member states might be
allowed to participate based upon their relationship to the accident. The NTSB is
primarily charged with accident investigation in the US, however, the NTSB does
participate to a greater or lesser degree in the investigation of commercial aviation
accidents throughout the world. This is based on the NTSB's mandate under Annex 13 of
the Chicago Convention and related international agreements.
- An accredited representative was brought up on pg 62, but the textbook never gave
a definition.
Chapter 3, p. 62, 65 (respectively)
What are the primary responsibilities of the NTSB? - Answer The primary responsibilities
of the NTSB include determining the probable cause of transportation accidents,
promoting transportation safety through recommended processes, conducting safety
studies, evaluating the effectiveness of other government agencies transportation safety
programs, and reviewing appeals of adverse actions by the US Department of
Transportation
Chapter 2, p. 63-
Explain the role of the investigator-in-charge (IIC) and the go-team. - Answer The IIC, a
senior air safety investigator with the NTSB's Office of Aviation Safety organizes,
conducts, and manages the field phase of the investigation, regardless of whether a
board member is also present on the scene. The go-team is a team of personnel with
a wide range of accident investigation skills, wherein team duty is rotated.
Immediately after one team has been dispatched, a new list is posted.
Chapter 3, p. 69, 70-71 (respectively)
What is the purpose of a public hearing? - Answer 1) Public hearings are intended
primarily to expand the public record and demonstrate to the public that a
complete, open, and objective investigation is being conducted.
Chapter 3, p. 74
How did passage of the Independent Safety Board Act of 1974 affect the NTSB? - Answer
The passage of the Independent Safety Board Act of 1974 placed the NTSB completely
independent and outside the DOT because no Federal agency could ever properly
other agency within the United States.
Chapter 2, p. 64
Describe the types of accidents investigated by the NTSB. - Answer The NTSB
investigates accidents such as those involving 49 CFR Parts 212 and 135 air carriers,
those involving public aircraft, those involving ATC, training, midair collisions,
newly certified aircraft/engines, and general aviation accidents.
Chapter 3, p. 65. More detailed list found
there
Describe the organizational structure of the NTSB. - Answer he NTSB is organized mainly
into levels, the Top Level, the Second Level, and the Third Level. Figure 3-1 on pg. 67
shows these levels clearly.
What is the so-called party system that enables the NTSB to leverage its limited
resources? - Answer The party system allows the NTSB to bring into an investigation the
technical expertise of the companies, entities, and individuals who were involved in the
accident or those who might be able to provide specialized knowledge to assist in
determining the probable cause. With the exception of the FAA, party status is a privilege,
not a right
Chapter 3, p. 70
Identify the steps taken in a major accident investigation? - Answer The steps in the
accident investigation process start out with the go team being dispatched, filled with
people such as human performance experts, and experts trained in witness interrogation.
Next is the party selection process which consists of naming the various parties
(specialists) that are to help with the investigation. Moving on, the attention is next given
to the accident site. The time needed at the accident site can vary from between 10-
days, however investigations can often require off-site engineering studies or lab tests.
Those laboratories (the next step) performs detailed analyses on items found at the
accident site. Toward the end of the accident investigation, an accident report is
prepared, a public hearing is called to collect added information, and last of all, the final
accident report is published, and safety recommendations are made to the FAA
Chapter 3, p. 69-
What types of activities are performed at the NTSB's laboratory in Washington, D.C? -
Answer The Laboratory in Washington DC performs such things as metallurgy,
deciphering flight data recorders, and getting the read outs of aircraft cockpit voice
recorders
Chapter 3, p. 72
When are safety recommendations made? - Answer Safety recommendations are made
as soon as a problem is identified without necessarily waiting until an investigation is
completed and the probable cause of an accident determined. This is because when
human lives are involved, timeliness is essential
Chapter 3, p. 75
Are public hearings ever reopened? - Answer On rare occasions they may be when
significant new additional information becomes available or follow-up
investigation reveals additional issues that call for an airing in a public forum such
as a hearing
Chapter 3, p. 74
What information is included in the final accident report? - Answer The final report
consists of the analysis of the factual findings found during the investigation process.
This report includes safety recommendations and the probable cause of the accident or
incident.
Chapter 3, p. 74
Distinguish between a field investigation and a limited investigation of a general-aviation
accident. - Answer Most general aviation accident investigations are conducted by one
of
any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all the time such persons
have disembarked, and in which any person suffers a fatal or serious injury or the
aircraft receives substantial damage. An incident is an occurrence other than an
accident associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or could affect the
safety of operations.
Chapter 4, p. 84-
Why do accident investigations still provide the best insight and information leading to
accident prevention? What is the purpose of publicizing safety recommendations
following an accident? - Answer They provide the best insight and information leading to
accident prevention because the focus of the formal investigation is directed away from
the pursuit of the guilty party and toward effective preventive action. Cooperation is also
fostered among those involved in the accident which facilitates the discovery of the true
cause of the accident. Once the cause has been determined, safety recommendations are
posted as a way of ensuring that the recommendations are reasonable and realistic in
the circumstances, they enable other countries to see what action was recommended,
and they can provide pressure for a prompt response.
Chapter 4, p. 85, 86 (respectively)
Explain the importance of establishing a culture of safety reporting. - Answer Because
such reporting is critical to modern aviation safety management programs, and the
ICAO has long recognized that the establishment of a proper safety culture is key to
effective safety reporting. For a system to be successful there must be trust,
confidentiality, independence, ease of reporting, acknowledgement, and motivation and
promotion.
Chapter 4, p. 87-
What is the difference between a mandatory and voluntary reporting system? - Answer In
the mandatory system, people are required to report certain types of incidents. In a
voluntary reporting system, those involved in the aviation community are invited to
report hazards, discrepancies, or deficiencies in which they were involved or which they
observed. The voluntary system, however, requires a trusted third party to manage the
system.
Chapter 4, p. 90
What characteristic of voluntary systems is particularly important? - Answer
Confidentiality, and because of this, voluntary systems tend to be more successful than
mandatory systems in collecting human factor related information.
Chapter 4, p. 90
What is included in the FAA Accident Incident Data System? What is the purpose of the
Service Difficulty Reporting System? - Answer AIDS mentioned on pg. 91. SDRS are
reports filed by air carriers, repair stations, manufacturers, FAA inspectors, and others
concerning specific types of mechanical problems, aircraft failures, or malfunctions.
Chapter 4, p. 91
How does the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing System work? - Answer
The FAA developed this system to enable users to perform integrated searches across
multiple databases part of an evolving data warehouse of safety data which contains
weblinks and crosslinks to a variety of sources.
Chapter 4, p. 91
Describe the salient features of ASAP, FOQA, AQP, and LOSA. - Answer ASAP - has a
goal of preventing accidents and incidents by identifying unsafe practices and correcting
them (Chapter 4, p 92)
FOQA - is a flight operational quality assurance program involving collecting and
analyzing data recorded during flight to improve safety (p. 93)
AQP - has a goal of increasing aviation safety by using innovative training and
qualification concepts (p. 93)
(examples of information provided by ICAO).
Chapter 4, p. 99
Discuss OSHA's recording requirements for injuries and illnesses and the reasons for
collecting this data. - Answer Such things are recorded for several purposes. OSHA
collects data through the OSHA Data Initiative (ODI) to help direct its programs and
measure its own performance. Inspectors also use the data during inspections to help
direct their efforts to the hazards that are hurting workers. This information is also used
by employers and employees to implement safety and health programs at individual
workplaces. OSHA requires that every employer covered by the OSHA act with 11 or
more employees record and report all employee occupational deaths, injuries, and
illnesses on OSHA Forms 300 and 301. Employers with 10 or fewer employees are
required to keep injury and illness records only if OSHA specifically notifies them in
writing. However, all employees covered by the OSHA Act must report all deaths and
events that cause
in-patient hospitalization of 3 or more employees to OSHA within 8 hours of being aware
of the events.
Chapter 4, p. 101
Discuss the role that BLS plays in recording and analyzing occupational injury/illness
data. - Answer Records provide the base data for the Bureau of Labor Statistics
(BLS) Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses which is ultimately the
nation's primary source of occupational injury and illness data. Each year, the BLS
uses a stratified random data collection survey process to collect injury and
operational data which it then analyzes, categorizes, and publishes into groupings
called Standard Industrial Classification Codes (SIC).
Chapter 4, p. 101-
Discuss some of the salient features of the EPA's hazardous substance reporting
requirements. - Answer Under federal environmental laws, any facility or vessel must
report to government authorities about any hazardous substance that is released into the
environment in quantities that exceed a threshold amount referred to as reportable
quantities (RQs). The EPA regulations also cover a variety of reporting requirements that
include
Medium (environments) into which the release is applicable
Listing of the hazardous substances together with their
quantities
Persons responsible for reporting
Time line for reporting
-More detailed list found on pg 103
Chapter 4, p. 103
What does 40 CFR Part 87 address? - Answer The sections within this part deal with
setting limits on exhaust emissions of smoke from aircraft engines, ban venting of fuel
emissions into the atmosphere from certain types of aircraft engines, and require the
elimination of intentional discharge to the atmosphere of fuel drained from fuel nozzle
manifolds after engines are shut down.
Chapter 4, p. 106
Why is the accident rate a better measure of safety than accident counts are? - Answer
Because accident counts by themselves cannot be reliably used to measure relative
safety among organizations and their products. For this reason the accident rate, which
is the number of accidents divided by some common base variable (flight hours,
departures, miles flown) is a more valid indicator of relative safety than just accident
counts.
Chapter 5, p. 111
Discuss some of the issues to be aware of in analyzing and comparing commercial
aviation accident statistics. - Answer The fact is that not many statistics can be compared
straight across the board. Small aircraft statistics cannot be compared to those of larger
aircraft. Aircraft that have accidents while on long hauls over the ocean cannot be
compared to aircraft that had accidents on take off or landing. General aviation accidents
cannot be compared to commercial aviation accidents, and so forth. So when comparing
