01/19/09 FAA Accidents and Incidents README Record Count (main table): 189,725 This dataset consists of information on aviation accidents and incidents reported to the Federal Aviation Administration. NICAR maintains records obtained from the FAA for accidents and incidents occurring since 1973. The FAA Accidents and Incidents data goes beyond the NTSB accident database in that it also includes incidents, which are defined as "events that do not meet the aircraft damage or person injury thresholds contained in the NTSB definition of an accident." For example, the database contains reports of collisions between aircraft and birds while on approach to or departure from an airport. "Aircraft accident" means an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and until all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage. The data consists of an aircraft-by-aircraft account of accidents and incidents on the ground or in the air. For example, if two aircrafts were involved in the same incident, there would be a separate record for each within the database. Previous users of this data may notice a significant change from earlier updates. Archived data, from 1973 through 1989, used to have an entirely different record layout compared with the most recent data. In 2003, though, the FAA made a significant improvement to this database by altering the layouts from the earlier years to be consistent with the most recent data years. NICAR took the opportunity to update and re-process its entire collection of this data. Now users will find records from 1973 through the most recent data update within one set of tables. The FAA also made another significant alteration to the data in 1999. The most noticeable change was the addition of a 10th table consisting of the full narrative for each report. Previously, the data only included a partial narrative. Some fields were also dropped or added at that time. There are a number of fields that have not been used consistently by the FAA and should be investigated further before relying on them for analysis. The ones NICAR has identified are: TYPENG, PICSTD, OPCODE, ACDSGN, CAUSACD, CONTRACD, CAUSBCD, CONTRBCD, OCCACD, OCCBCD, CAUSA, CONTRA, CAUSB. The fields indicating dates of birth (DOBPIC AND DOBSP) are often filled in with 01/01/1900, which, we suspect, is inaccurate. Fields that are in numeric format were converted by NICAR; as a result, blank fields were automatically given zeros (0). So for example, in the pilot table there are several fields indicating hours flown, where zero does NOT mean he/she hasn't flown before. In addition to a date field that NICAR translates from text, NICAR also translates the latitude and longitude values recorded in the original data from the original value and places that material in new fields called LATMAP and LONGMAP. The translation involves converting decimal and minute values to decimal degrees. Those might be useful for the use of mapping software. According to the FAA, in the original latitude and longitude fields, the first three characters represent degrees and the second two represent minutes. In processing, NICAR did not translate values that are clearly incorrect -- instances in which a direction isn't included (N, S, E OR W), minutes are more than 59 or degrees are more than 90 in latitudes or 180 in longitudes. The original values are still present, but they are represented in the LATMAP and LONGMAP fields as zeroes. PLEASE NOTE: There are several fields that contain data that isn't found in the code sheets. According to the FAA, these are typos. In the NUMENG field (found in the main table), the number 0 appears. This means that the aircraft was a glider. THE TABLES: The tables are in database format (dbf) which means it can be opened in any database manager program. First transfer the files to your hard drive. Then through the Exploring window, right-mouse click on each DBF file and go to "properties." There you can remove the "read only" properties. To open in Microsoft Access, you must first create a BLANK DATABASE, then once inside that blank database you need to IMPORT the dbf files. (This can be done under the File Menu, "Get External Data"). It should import automatically, without having to set any specifications. Records for each incident can be linked across the 10 tables with the ID field. This is a unique identifier for each report in the database. The ID number begins with the date the event occurred. MAIN.dbf: Date of the accident, remedial actions taken, agency conducting investigation, how the FAA learned about the accident/incident, general information about the airplane(s) involved and flags to indicate whether the pilot(s) was killed. AIRCRAFT.dbf: Details about the airplanes and their engines, including N Number, make, model and region where it was certified. The year of manufacture field is included here, but does not contain information for any of the records. The airframe hours of the aircraft, however, are included. LOCATION.dbf: Region/district/state/city/airport where accident or incident occurred; latitude and longitude; weather, flying and runway conditions. CASUALTY.dbf: Number of people killed or injured. This is broken down by passengers, flight crew, cabin crew, ground crew and public/third party as well. ENTRYDAT.dbf: Dates when information was entered/updated in the database. PILOT.dbf: Details about the pilot(s) involved, including age, certificate type, qualification, rating codes, flying hours, residence state and profession. REMARKS.dbf: This table contains the partial remarks field, name and state of owner/operator of the aircraft and a flight plan description. EXTRA.dbf: This contains the full remarks field for each record. This field is in memo format. (note this has a memo field, which means it has an accompanying file with a "dbt" extension. You must copy both files to your hard drive in order for this table to open properly. Otherwise you don't need to do anything with the extra.dbt -- just don't throw it away) TECH.dbf: Codes indicating the primary, supporting and contributing causes of the accident/incident; phase of flight, damage to aircraft, and other information related to the event. TEXT.dbf: The full text descriptions for many of the fields that are coded in other tables, such as the cause factors, pilot information, remedial actions, and some aircraft and engine information. OTHER ITEMS ON THIS CD: LAYOUTS.txt: This is a tab-delimited file that can be imported into spreadsheet (such as Microsoft Excel) or viewed in any word-processing program. This contains the record layouts for each of the 10 tables, including references to code tables for particular fields. AIDCODES.doc: A Microsoft Word file containing the code tables referred to in the record layout. JASC_CODES.doc: A Word file containing additional code tables, especially applicable in the TECH.dbf and TEXT.dbf tables. ACFT.dbf: This is a lookup table with make, model and group information for the aircraft. The corresponding fields in the Aircraft.dbf are named the same in both tables. Those are make, model and group. See corresponding readme, aircraftcode.doc AIRPORT.dbf: Airport lookup information with airport code, name, city and state. This corresponds with fields in the location table. LOCID in the location table should correspond with APT.ID field in the airport table. See corresponding readme, airport.doc. ATACODE.dbf: This is a lookup code table for the primary cause factor fields, where the code is in numeric form. See corresponding readme, atafilelayout.txt ENGINE.dbf: This is a lookup code table for the engine make, model and group fields in the aircraft table. You can link using the following engine fields: make, model and eng_grp. See corresponding readme, engineFilelayout.txt ACRFTSER.dbf: This is a lookup code table for aircraft series information. See corresponding record layout, aircraftseries.doc. HOW YOU CAN USE THIS DATABASE: The accidents and incidents in this database occurred in a variety of locations, including all U.S. states and territories and some foreign countries. It's possible to find information on: - Accidents/incidents at a particular airport; - Those involving a certain make/model of airplane or engine; - Those involving a certain type of pilot (i.e. student, commercial, recreational, private, flight instructor); - By the type of operation of the plane (i.e. scheduled passenger flight, commuter flights, air cargo transport, air taxi). For instance, the database would be useful after something like the crash of an American Airlines Airbus A300 in Queens in November 2001. In that case, the plane�s tail fell off. It�s possible to look up accidents involving other A300s to find patterns. You can also search for a particular airplane by its tail number (engine table, "nnum" field) to find out if it's been involved in any accidents or incidents. This is especially useful if a plane crashes in your coverage area, for follow-up in the days after the accident. Several stories, available through the IRE Resource Center, have been produced using FAA data. For example, the Wall Street Journal reviewed incident reports for a 1998 story and found that some are entered with crucial data missing, or entered incorrectly. (Ask for story #15813). Dateline NBC used the FAA Accidents and Incidents database, along with several other aviation databases for its computer analysis of commuter airline safety. They found widespread problems, including pilots falling asleep at the controls, and the FAA reduced the fines it imposed against commuter airlines. The series also investigated the differences in safety regulation between commuter planes and major airlines, showing how these can have an impact on safety. A tape of the series, as well as a detailed written description of how they conducted the investigation, is available from the IRE Resource Center. Ask for story #10624. Other stories on aviation (not necessarily using this database) include one by USA Today (story #12346) that looked at the safety and longevity of passenger aircraft; The Plain Dealer investigation (story #13934) into how the Federal Aviation Administration ignored mounting safety and maintenance problems at several carriers including ValuJet airlines. The Resource Center also offers tipsheets from IRE/NICAR conferences and articles from Uplink. They include: Tipsheet #1681, from the 2002 IRE Conference, shows to how to cover a plane crash. Includes what to do when it's a small crash compared to a major crash. Also included is a list of sources around the country and on the Internet. Tipsheet #1286, from the 2000 NICAR Conference, offers helpful advice on how and when to use data in the event of an airline crash, how to prepare the newsroom, which agencies are helpful sources of information. Tipsheet #1210, from the 2000 IRE Conference, includes a list of agency Web sites, including the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, and explains what each can offer reporters investigating aviation safety. The January/February 2002 issue of Uplink includes how to report on airline and airport security. The October 1999 issue has an article called, �When planes crash: Being prepared pays.� Also available from IRE: "Covering Aviation Safety: An Investigator's Guide," by Marie Tessier. This is one in a series of beat books available from IRE. Orders for tipsheets, stories or the beat book can be made by calling the IRE Resource Center at (573) 882-3364. More information on FAA safety data is available on their Web site at http://nasdac.faa.gov/internet/. We highly recommend checking out information at this site about using safety data, "Cautions about the analysis of aviation data," located at: http://nasdac.faa.gov/internet/fw_Learn.htm There's also a useful glossary at: http://nasdac.faa.gov/internet/fw_glossary.htm If you have any questions about this data, you may contact the Federal Aviation Administration at(405) 954-4391, or (405) 954-7156. If you have any further questions about the processing of this data, contact the IRE and NICAR Database Library at (573) 884-7711.