WASHINGTON (AP) — New government rules will require airlines to collect and analyze safety data to spot any troubling trends and help prevent accidents.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the causes of 123 accidents from 2001 to 2010 could have been identified beforehand if airlines had safety management systems in place.
The new rules will require passenger and cargo airlines to have those systems in place by 2018.
The rules detail the data to be collected and analyzed, but give airlines flexibility about how to gather the information.
Most U.S. airlines already have safety management systems, or elements of them.
