NASA ASRS: What the Aviation Safety Reporting System Is and How to Search It

NASA ASRS is the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a confidential, voluntary reporting program for aviation safety incidents. It is funded by the FAA and administered by NASA. This guide is for researchers, safety analysts and administrators who need to know what the system is, what protections reporters have, how its public database is searched, and what its data can and cannot support. Facts below come from NASA’s ASRS pages, read 7 November 2026.

What NASA ASRS is

ASRS collects safety reports that pilots, air traffic controllers and other aviation personnel submit voluntarily. NASA uses the reports to identify deficiencies in the aviation system, to issue alerts to the parties who can fix them, and to educate through its newsletter CALLBACK, its journal ASRS Directline and research studies. The design is a learning system rather than an enforcement one: reporters describe events in their own words, and the program removes identifying detail before anything is shared.

It belongs in the same family of methods as the critical incident technique, in which reported events, rather than a measured sample, are the unit of analysis.

Who runs it and what it covers

ASRS operates under the FAA’s Aviation Safety Reporting Program, and NASA conducts its day-to-day operations under a Memorandum of Agreement with the FAA (FAA Advisory Circular 00-46F, as published on the ASRS immunity page). NASA, not the FAA, receives and de-identifies the reports, and the FAA receives nothing that reveals a reporter’s identity. Reports can be submitted through Electronic Report Submission (ERS) or on a downloadable form sent by US mail.

Confidentiality

NASA states that reports are held in strict confidence and that no reporter’s identity has ever been breached by the ASRS. Dates, times and related details that could be used to infer an identity are generalized or removed.

Immunity conditions for reporters

The FAA has committed not to use ASRS information against reporters in enforcement actions and, subject to limitations, waives fines and penalties for unintentional violations. Under paragraph 12 of Advisory Circular 00-46F, no civil penalty or certificate suspension is imposed when all of the following hold:

• the violation was inadvertent;
• it did not involve a criminal offense, an accident, or action under 49 U.S.C. 44709;
• the person has no FAA enforcement finding of a violation in the previous 5 years;
• a written report was delivered or mailed to NASA within 10 days of the violation, or of the date the person knew or should have known of it.

This does not apply to controllers covered by the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (ATSAP). Separately, 14 CFR 91.25 bars the FAA from using ASRS reports, or information derived from them, in enforcement, except for criminal offenses or accidents.

How to search the ASRS database

NASA publishes the de-identified reports in the ASRS Database Online. The official pages support this workflow:

1. Open the ASRS Database Online page and select Start Search. NASA advises turning off pop-up blockers for best results.
2. Before building a query, review the ASRS Coding Taxonomy (PDF) and the ASRS Abbreviations (PDF), since reports are coded and narratives use abbreviations.
3. Use the search form at asrs.arc.nasa.gov/search/dbol.html to define your query.
4. Consult the supporting resources on the same page: New Users, Search Strategies, Sample Searches and About ASRS Data.
5. Export results to Word, Excel (.xls) or CSV. Each row is one incident record, and a single download is limited to 10,000 records.

NASA also offers Database Report Sets and a Requesting ASRS Data route for material beyond the online search. For sign-in or submission, use the links on the ASRS site itself.

Strengths and limits for research

The following points combine NASA’s stated facts with editorial interpretation, marked as such.

• Strength: narrative detail. Reports come from the people involved, so they capture context that mandatory counts do not (editorial interpretation).
• Strength: structured coding and export. A published taxonomy and CSV export let analysts code and re-analyse records outside the website (sourced: taxonomy and export formats).
• Limit: voluntary submission. Because reporting is voluntary, the database is not a census of events. Counts of reports should not be read as incidence rates (editorial interpretation of the voluntary design).
• Limit: generalized dates and times. Confidentiality rules remove or generalize details that could identify a reporter, which constrains fine-grained temporal or locational analysis (editorial interpretation of the confidentiality policy).
• Limit: download cap. The 10,000-record cap means large studies need segmented queries or a data request.

Related approaches

Approach	How it relates	Source
ATSAP (Air Traffic Safety Action Program)	Controllers covered by ATSAP are outside the AC 00-46F reporter-immunity provision described above.	NASA ASRS immunity page
Critical incident technique	A research method built on collecting and classifying reported incidents; ASRS data can be analysed in that spirit.	CASRAI guide
Root cause analysis	A structured way to investigate why an event occurred; used alongside incident reporting in safety work.	CASRAI guide
AI Incident Database	An incident-reporting resource for a different domain, artificial intelligence.	CASRAI guide

FAQ

What does NASA ASRS stand for?

Aviation Safety Reporting System. It is funded by the FAA and administered by NASA.

Is an ASRS report anonymous?

Reports are held in strict confidence rather than being anonymous at intake: NASA de-identifies them and generalizes or removes dates and times that could reveal identity. NASA states no reporter’s identity has ever been breached.

Does filing an ASRS report protect a pilot from FAA penalties?

Reporters may be eligible for protection from civil penalty and certificate suspension if the AC 00-46F conditions are met: an inadvertent violation, no criminal offense or accident, no enforcement finding in the previous 5 years, and a written report to NASA within 10 days. This is a summary of NASA’s published text, not legal advice.

Can anyone search ASRS data?

NASA provides the ASRS Database Online and Database Report Sets, plus a route for requesting ASRS data.

How many records can I download at once?

Up to 10,000 records per download, in Word, Excel (.xls) or CSV.

Sources

• NASA ASRS, Program summary (read 7 Nov 2026)
• NASA ASRS, Confidentiality (read 7 Nov 2026)
• NASA ASRS, Immunity policy (read 7 Nov 2026)
• NASA ASRS, Database search (read 7 Nov 2026)