SPI Definitions

Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) are quantitative measures used to monitor and assess the effectiveness of an organization’s Safety Management System. PlaneConnection tracks SPIs across five categories aligned with 14 CFR Part 5 section 5.71 requirements for safety performance monitoring and measurement.

SPI Categories

Category	API Value	Indicator Count	Description
Flight Operations	`flight_ops`	6	Metrics related to flight safety, deviations, and pilot performance.
Maintenance	`maintenance`	5	Metrics related to aircraft reliability and maintenance effectiveness.
Ground Operations	`ground_ops`	4	Metrics related to ground handling safety and ramp incidents.
SMS Effectiveness	`sms_effectiveness`	5	Metrics measuring the health and activity of the SMS itself.
Human Factors	`human_factors`	5	Metrics related to crew fatigue, training, and human error.

Flight Operations
Maintenance
Ground Operations
SMS Effectiveness
Human Factors

Indicator	Description	Unit	Typical Target	Typical Threshold
Unstable approach rate	Percentage of approaches not meeting stabilized approach criteria.	% of approaches	< 3%	> 5%
Go-around rate	Number of go-arounds per 1,000 approaches.	Per 1,000	< 5	> 10
Altitude deviation rate	Exceedances of assigned altitude by more than 200 ft.	Per 1,000 flight hours	< 1	> 3
Airspeed deviation rate	Exceedances of Vref +/- limits during approach.	Per 1,000 approaches	< 2	> 5
TCAS/RA rate	Traffic Resolution Advisories received.	Per 1,000 flight hours	< 0.5	> 1.0
Runway incursion rate	Runway incursion events (all severity categories).	Per 10,000 operations	0	> 0

Indicator	Description	Unit	Typical Target	Typical Threshold
Dispatch reliability	Percentage of scheduled departures not delayed or cancelled due to maintenance.	%	> 98%	< 95%
AOG rate	Aircraft-on-ground events per fleet aircraft per month.	Per aircraft/month	< 0.5	> 1.0
MEL deferral rate	Percentage of flights dispatched with MEL deferrals active.	% of flights	< 5%	> 10%
Repeat squawk rate	Percentage of maintenance write-ups that recur within 30 days.	%	< 3%	> 5%
Unscheduled maintenance ratio	Ratio of unscheduled to total maintenance events.	Ratio	< 0.20	> 0.35

Indicator	Description	Unit	Typical Target	Typical Threshold
Ground damage rate	Aircraft ground damage events per 1,000 ground movements.	Per 1,000	0	> 0.5
Ramp incident rate	Personnel injury or equipment damage events on the ramp.	Per 10,000 operations	< 1	> 2
Fueling discrepancy rate	Fuel quantity discrepancies exceeding tolerance.	% of fuelings	< 1%	> 3%
FOD report rate	Foreign Object Debris findings reported per month.	Per month	< 2	> 5

Indicator	Description	Unit	Typical Target	Typical Threshold
Safety report submission rate	Reports submitted per 1,000 flight hours.	Per 1,000 hours	> 10	< 5
Report closure time	Average days from report submission to closure.	Days	< 30	> 60
CPA on-time completion	Percentage of CPAs completed by their due date.	%	> 90%	< 75%
Investigation completion rate	Percentage of investigations completed within 90 days.	%	> 85%	< 70%
Safety meeting attendance	Average attendance rate at required safety meetings.	%	> 90%	< 75%

Indicator	Description	Unit	Typical Target	Typical Threshold
Duty time exceedance rate	Instances where crew exceeded regulatory duty limits.	Per quarter	0	> 0
Fatigue report rate	Fatigue-related safety reports per 1,000 flight hours.	Per 1,000 hours	< 1	> 2
Training currency rate	Percentage of crew members current on all required training.	%	100%	< 95%
Human-error-related event rate	Events attributed to human error as a contributing factor.	Per 1,000 hours	< 2	> 4
Voluntary reporting ratio	Ratio of voluntary reports to mandatory reports.	Ratio	> 3:1	< 1:1

Alert System

SPIs use a three-level alert system to flag performance trends requiring attention.

Level	Color	Trigger	Escalation
Watch	Yellow	SPI value approaches threshold (within 20% of threshold value).	Displayed on safety dashboard. Safety manager notified.
Warning	Orange	SPI value meets or exceeds the defined threshold.	Safety manager receives daily notification. Included in weekly safety report.
Critical	Red	SPI value exceeds threshold by more than 50%, or a zero-tolerance indicator registers any occurrence.	Accountable executive notified immediately. Requires documented management review within 48 hours.

Zero-Tolerance Indicators

Certain SPIs have a target of zero. Any occurrence immediately triggers a Critical alert:

Duty time exceedance rate
Runway incursion rate (triggers Warning; repeated occurrences trigger Critical)

Management Review Cycles

Cycle	Frequency	Participants	Scope
Daily	Every business day	Safety manager, dispatch	Active alerts, Watch/Warning/Critical status changes
Weekly	Weekly	Safety manager, operations manager	SPI trend summaries, new alerts, CPA status
Monthly	Monthly	Safety committee	Full SPI dashboard review, trend analysis, corrective actions
Quarterly	Quarterly	Accountable executive, safety committee	Aggregate performance, target adjustments, resource allocation
Annual	Annually	Accountable executive, all management	Year-over-year comparison, target recalibration, SMS effectiveness assessment

Trend Indicators

Each SPI displays a trend direction based on comparison with the previous measurement period.

Trend	Symbol	Definition
Improving	Up arrow (green)	Current value is closer to target than the previous period.
Stable	Dash (gray)	Current value is within 5% of the previous period.
Declining	Down arrow (red)	Current value is farther from target than the previous period.

Regulatory Alignment

Part 5 Section	Requirement	SPI Application
5.71	Safety performance monitoring and measurement	SPI tracking across all five categories
5.73	Safety performance assessment	Alert system and management reviews
5.75	Continuous improvement	Trend analysis and target recalibration
5.97	SMS records	SPI history retained for 5 years

Configure SPIs

SPI target, threshold, and alert rule configuration.

Monitor SPIs

Tutorial walkthrough of the SPI dashboard and trend analysis.

Safety Performance

How SPIs fit into the SMS safety assurance framework.

SmartScore Methodology

Composite scoring system built on SPI data.

SMS Reference

SmartScore

Operations Reference

FBO Reference

Maintenance Reference

Operational Reports

Portal Reference

Platform Reference

API Reference

SPI Categories

Alert System

Zero-Tolerance Indicators

Management Review Cycles

Trend Indicators

Regulatory Alignment

Configure SPIs

Monitor SPIs

Safety Performance

SmartScore Methodology

​SPI Categories

​Alert System

​Zero-Tolerance Indicators

​Management Review Cycles

​Trend Indicators

​Regulatory Alignment

​Related

Configure SPIs

Monitor SPIs

Safety Performance

SmartScore Methodology

SPI Categories

Alert System

Zero-Tolerance Indicators

Management Review Cycles

Trend Indicators

Regulatory Alignment

Related