Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST)

When NASA’s Aviation Safety Program was begun in 1997, the agency joined with a large group of aviation-related organizations from Government, industry, and academia in forming a Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) to help reduce the U. S. com­mercial aviation fatal accident rate by 80 percent in 10 years. During those 10 years, the group analyzed data from some 500 accidents and thou­sands of safety incidents and helped develop 47 safety enhancements.[249] In 2008, the group could boast that the rate had been reduced by 83 percent, and for that, CAST was awarded avi­ation’s most prestigious honor, the Robert J. Collier Trophy.