First time his hair has been on fire.

Multiple responses were already made. They do require a modicum of reading comprehension. That may have been your disconnect.

However, if it is an accident or a criminal act, the protections of the ASRS program do not apply, the report will be forwarded to the FAA and the information can be used.

It comes from the fact that the FAA has done that in the past, and when the pilot in question appealed his enforcement to the NTSB, the NTSB ruled that the information on the title strip is not protected under the ASRP program.

I can't lay my hands on the NTSB decision at the moment, but I'll see if I can did it up. As I recall it (it's been a while) the pilot has some sort of deviation. Let's say it was an altitude bust on an IFR flight plan. I don't know that's what it was, but lets say it was. So pilot files an NTSB report, and he puts something fairly specific in the title strip like "N456BK deviating from assigned altitude" This was back in the day of paper ASRP reports that you actually filled out with a pen folded up and mailed in. Back then, NASA would get the report, review it for intentional violations and criminal acts, and if none were involved, they would cut off the title strip, put a time and date stamp on it, and mail it back to you. So, the FAA sends the guy a letter of Investigation, and when responding to it, the pilot sends in the title strip with his other information. The FAA used the effective admission of guilt on the title strip in their finding of a violation against him. He appealed to the NTSB and they ruled that the strip was not protected under the ASRP program.

Two things to take away from this:

1) Be as vague and non-specific as you can in the title. Save the details, confessions, etc for the body of the ASRP report.

2) don't submit anything about an ASRP report in an investigation. It doesn't do anything for you in an investigation. It won't stop the investigation, and it won't prevent a finding of violation. All it will do is prevent any penalty assessed from taking effect. (certificate suspension, for example) If you are found to be in violation *then* bring out your ASRP receipt.


Again, I don't know that it actually was an altitude deviation in the cited case, that was just a "for example". I'll see if I can find the NTSB decision.

Well, as I said, at the FAA we don't have access to any NASA/ASRS files and would never know what an airmen uses for the title, they can name it anything they want.

That "technicality" you mentioned is unfortunate, that's the exact thing the compliance philosophy is trying to reverse, the adversarial standoff where in the absence of information the FAA fears the worst and the airman refuses to discuss. Hard to reverse decades of culture, but we are trying.

Well, in this case, the Airman sent the strip in to the FAA in response to the LOI, so they *did* have that part of it.

Unfortunately it will take years for pilots to forget and forgive, especially when the same safety inspectors are still around. I saw careers crushed over minor violations such as a right hand pattern at a non-towered airport. Ironically, these pilots probably would have been better off with DUI's as most major airlines ask about "DUI's within the past 5 years" but a violation is there forever. I know many airline pilots who refuse to teach as there is too much risk from a possible violation.

How did they even find out about a right hand pattern at a non-towered field?

One safety inspector liked to hang out at airports looking for them, other people would turn in the offending pilots to the FSDO... many ways.

The ASRS is protected within the body of the report, but not the title, which means that if the FAA learns of the violation based on the body of the report, the FAA may not take action. If the FAA learns of the violation from another source, which includes the title strip, the FAA may take action on that information.

A pilot who offers the strip when asked about an incident, or even in a matter peripheral to the incident, may incriminate himself and provide the legal impetus to investigate or to secure information to use against the pilot in the appeal process.

Whether you as an inspector routinely comb ASRS reports, or whether you have routine access to them, is irrelevant to the subject of what's protected and what's not.