Eclipse Aviation has released more information about its planned flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) program, which the FAA recently approved. The company has not revealed the regulatory basis of the approval. The FOQA program will gather data from Eclipse 500s for analysis by Austin Digital, a software company that works with many FOQA equipment manufacturers and airlines. FOQA data will originate from Eclipse’s upcoming Avio NG avionics system. FOQA should be used, Eclipse said,
“to identify and correct systemic trends…as opposed to identifying individual issues,” and “manufacturers should seek FAA approval for FOQA programs to ensure protection from FAA use of FOQA information for enforcement purposes.”