Airport Safety Hindered by Limited Sharing of Near-Miss Data in SMS Programs

A recent Senate aviation subcommittee hearing highlighted the ongoing challenge runway safety experts and airport operators face regarding the sharing of near-miss and hazard data within the U.S. National Airspace System. The hearing, instigated by a close-call event involving Delta and American Airlines flights at Boston Logan, revealed that airports often do not receive complete safety reports due to fears surrounding public records requests and legal liability. This gap complicates airports' ability to manage safety risks on their surfaces through Safety Management Systems (SMS).

During discussions, Senators and aviation stakeholders reiterated common themes such as the use of technologies like ADS-B In, runway status lights, and air traffic control modernization to improve safety. However, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito probed deeper into whether the formally reported data fully captures the scope of near misses, suggesting that many incidents likely go unreported in public channels. This pointed inquiry underscored a disconnect between industry-held data and what is accessible for public and airport review.

Chris Sununu, Airlines for America's president and CEO, confirmed that while comprehensive data on near misses exists within the system, only a fraction reaches the public domain. He emphasized the daily occurrence of hundreds of near misses that are documented internally but not widely shared, underscoring the high frequency yet low public visibility of these safety events.

At the airport level, this restricted information flow poses a significant challenge for effective SMS implementation. Airports rely on a wide range of stakeholders—including controllers, pilots, ground operators, and vendors—to identify hazards and manage risks involving pavement layout, signage, markings, lighting, and local procedures. However, according to Todd Hauptli, president and CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives, airports often lack full access to incident details due to concerns over transparency laws and potential exposure to open-record requests.

AAAE's concerns stem from the legal environment wherein public airport authorities operate. Open records laws, including FOIA, create a reluctance among carriers, vendors, and controllers to share detailed safety information with airports owing to fears it may become publicly accessible, potentially impacting legal liability and reputations. This atmosphere discourages candid reporting and data sharing, adversely affecting airports’ proactive safety efforts.

The AAAE advocates for legislative protections limiting disclosure of safety data collected within SMS programs to only FAA-certificated operators, aiming to foster a culture that encourages reporting without fear of public exposure. They argue that effective risk mitigation requires confidential, collaborative sharing of safety observations among all parties involved in airport operations, which current public records frameworks impede.

However, this raises complex questions balancing transparency and accountability with the need for candid safety communication. Public entities such as airports warrant oversight and must ensure safe use of public resources, yet broad public access to raw safety data may discourage reporting and hinder root cause analysis. These issues have been topics of debate during FAA rulemaking and remain unresolved challenges across the fragmented ecosystem involving FAA, airport operators, tenants, and contractors.

Near misses typically gain attention because they represent discrete, dramatic events, but SMS aims to identify latent hazards and systemic issues before incidents arise. The Senate hearing illuminated how airports, although responsible for many surface safety factors, may remain partially blind to underlying risk patterns due to incomplete information sharing. This gap underscores the pressing need to refine data sharing and legal frameworks to enhance airport surface safety management.

The resolution of these tensions between confidentiality and transparency will require careful policy decisions by Congress, regulators, and industry stakeholders. Developing protections that preserve safety data privacy within SMS while maintaining public trust and enabling effective regulatory oversight is critical. Until such frameworks are established, airports may continue to face constrained abilities to fully identify and mitigate surface safety risks.