Flight Safety Foundation
Admiral Luis de Florez Flight Safety Award

is presented to

J. Kenneth Higgins
Boeing Commercial Airplanes

For developing the Flight Test Risk Assessment and Alleviation Process.

Earlier methods of assessing the risks in a particular flight test relied on the expertise and experience of key pilots. But lessons learned were not easily conveyed or fashioned into a permanent knowledge base. As flight test programs became more numerous and complex, these older methods were no longer adequate.

Ken Higgins led the effort to devise a better method. His new methodology is a systematic way to minimize the risk of a flight test accident or incident. The Flight Test Risk Assessment and Alleviation Process categorizes tests by risk level, which makes possible an appropriate level of scrutiny and oversight. Where the risk is found to be significant, extra steps are taken to minimize it.

As a result of the process, a lessons-learned database is now an integral part of flight test assessment at Boeing. Further, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has required that the same principles of flight test risk management be used in aircraft certification.

Flight Safety Foundation is pleased to recognize J. Kenneth Higgins for developing the “gold standard” of risk management in flight testing.

FSF 59th International Air Safety Seminar
Paris, France
October 25, 2006

Stuart Matthews
President and CEO
Flight Safety Foundation

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