By the end of this tutorial, you will have opened an investigation from a safety report, assigned an investigator, documented findings with root cause analysis, and recommended Corrective and Preventive Actions (CPAs).
Who should do this tutorial? Safety Managers and investigators who are responsible for
analyzing safety reports. You will need Safety Manager or Admin permissions to create and manage
investigations.
Before you start
Make sure you have:
- An active PlaneConnection account with Safety Manager or Admin role
- At least one submitted safety report in your workspace (see Submit Your First Safety Report if you need to create one)
- Familiarity with the SMS module navigation (see the Quickstart)
Running the investigation
Open an investigation from a report
In the Safety module sidebar, click Reports.
Find the report you want to investigate. Click on it to open the report detail page.
On the report detail page, look for the Open Investigation button. Click it.
You should see a new investigation detail page. Notice the auto-generated investigation number (e.g., INV-2026-00015) and the status of New. This page is your workspace for the entire investigation.
On the investigation detail page, find the Investigator field.
Click the field and select an investigator from the list of workspace members. The list shows users with Safety Manager or Admin roles.
Save the assignment.
You should see a notification indicator confirming the investigator has been assigned.
The investigator should not be someone directly involved in the reported event. Per 14 CFR 5.73,
investigations should assess safety performance without bias.
Document the investigation summary
In the Summary section, describe what is being investigated, the scope, and the methodology (interviews, document review, data analysis, site inspection).
Click Save.
You should see the summary text appear in the investigation record.
Scroll to the Findings section of the investigation page.
Click Add Finding.
Enter a factual Description (for example: “The pre-departure checklist did not include a step for verifying ground power disconnection”).
Select a Category (Procedural, Training, Equipment, Environmental, Human Factors, or Organizational).
Repeat for each finding.
You should see each finding appear in the findings list with its category badge.
Write findings as objective statements of fact, not opinions. A good finding: “The crew did not
receive recurrent training on the icing SOP in the past 14 months.”
Navigate to the Root Cause Analysis section within the investigation.
Enter the Contributing factors, Root cause(s), and Analysis method (for example, 5 Whys, Bow-Tie Analysis, or HFACS).
Click Save.
You should see the RCA section populated with your analysis.
Recommend Corrective and Preventive Actions
Scroll to the Recommendations section of the investigation.
Click Add Recommendation.
Enter a Title (for example: “Update pre-departure checklist to include ground power verification step”).
Enter a Description of what needs to happen.
Select Corrective or Preventive as the type.
Set the Priority (High, Medium, or Low).
Repeat for additional recommendations.
You should see each recommendation listed with its type and priority badges.
Make recommendations specific and time-bound. Instead of “Improve training,” write “Deliver
recurrent icing SOP training to all Part 135 pilots by Q2 2026.”
At the top of the investigation page, change the status to Review.
Click Save.
You should see the investigation status change to Review. Your reviewers will be notified and can approve the investigation, request revisions, or create CPAs from the recommendations.
Next steps
Conduct Your First Risk Assessment
Perform a formal risk assessment to evaluate hazards identified during investigation.
What is Just Culture?
Understand the non-punitive reporting philosophy that underpins effective investigation.
