Advancing Aviation Safety Through Collaborative Projects

While the aviation industry has made significant strides in safety analysis, there remains an opportunity to evolve from reactive, siloed safety analysis towards more proactive, collaborative methods that enhance systemic risk identification and timely insights sharing. Understanding this opportunity, we are exploring Aviation Self Service Analytics (SSA) Projects as a means to enable proactive, data-driven safety analysis by providing secure access to diverse datasets, shared analytical tools, and a collaborative environment that breaks down barriers between stakeholders to advance industry-wide safety outcomes.

The United States Aviation Safety Team (USAST) invites submissions from academic/research institutions and aviation stakeholders to participate in an initiative that focuses on demonstrating how the Aviation SSA Project concept can be leveraged to collaboratively solve real-world aviation safety challenges. This page serves as the central location to:

• Learn about the challenge
• Review participation expectations and eligibility requirements
• Submit a request to participate
• Access updates, timelines, and supporting materials

Overview

This effort is designed to demonstrate how secured SSA Projects can be leveraged by academic/research teams and aviation stakeholders to solve aviation safety challenges. Teams will be able to explore data, test ideas, and implement solutions through the development and application of advanced analytical and AI capabilities.

The challenge is intended to:

• Encourage practical aviation safety research
• Expand collaboration across the aviation community
• Support responsible data use in a controlled environment
• Accelerate development of analytical methods, visualizations, and decision-support concepts

Who Should Apply

• ASIAS stakeholders interested in or already participating in research/analytical efforts with academic/research institutions
• Academic/research institutions focused on advancing aviation safety through the development and application of AI models and analytical capabilities

Eligibility Requirements

• Each member of the team must meet all eligibility criteria
• An individual may be a member of more than one team
• Team sizes may vary widely. Each academic/research team must contain, at a minimum, one faculty advisor from the lead academic institution and two students who will work on the project
• Participating academic/research institutions must be based in the United States
• Eligibility is limited to individuals physically present in the United States
• A faculty advisor may advise more than one academic/research team
• Partnerships between organizations are encouraged but not required. Examples of partnerships include those between academic/research institutions, and those between ASIAS stakeholders and academic/research institutions
• Submission of a 3 – 5-page abstract
• An organization/team may submit more than one abstract
• An executed ASIAS partnership agreement by non-ASIAS stakeholder participants

Data Access and Responsible Use

Data leveraged for the purposes of this effort can be from multiple avenues including but not limited to:

• Their organization’s data if it is not currently shared with ASIAS
• Publicly available datasets accessible to teams
• Unrestricted non-proprietary ASIAS datasets
• Proprietary ASIAS datasets provided by stakeholders that have explicitly agreed for their data to be leveraged for this effort

Data leveraged will be governed in accordance with applicable privacy, security, and stewardship expectations.

Participants should be prepared to:

• Use data and platform resources only for approved purposes
• Follow all data-use requirements
• Work within the designated SSA Project environment
• Comply with rules for handling research outputs

All non-ASIAS datasets leveraged by teams must be ingested in coordination with and upon review and approval by The MITRE Corporation.

Team Structure and Participation Model

Each team will be responsible for managing its own work, deliverables, and internal collaboration in accordance with challenge rules and timelines. Team structures will be of the following format:

• ASIAS stakeholders in partnership with academic/research institutions
• Academic/research institutions without existing partnerships with ASIAS stakeholders (institutions will be paired with one or more ASIAS stakeholders for the purpose of this effort)

Participation Request Process

Each submission through this site should include a 3 to 5-page abstract that includes:

• Cover Page:
  • Team Name
  • Primary point of contact
  • Team member list
  • Names, roles, and organizations of members
  • Academic/research institutions should clearly indicate at a minimum, one faculty advisor
  • Project title
• Aviation safety challenge to be addressed
• Proposed analytical approach
• Expected output(s)
• Expected impact(s) of the effort
• Data needs. Clearly indicate the source of the data (publicly available/ organization’s data/ASIAS data) and how it will be obtained and leveraged for this effort
• Analytical and computational resources needed (e.g. estimated GPU resources needed to train and/or run AI models)

Timeline

• Submission request opens: 6/1/2026
• Submission request deadline: 8/31/2026
• Finalist selection: 9/1/2026 – 9/30/2026
• Team notification: 9/30/2026
• SSA Project Space and Training – October (TBD)
• Final submission deadline: A month prior to 2027 Infoshare
• Finalist presentation/awards announcement: 2027 Infoshare

Deliverables

Finalists must deliver:

• A final presentation at 2027 Infoshare
• AI models and capabilities for potential integration into ASIAS and stakeholder systems, with accompanying documentation

Prizes

• Recognition at 2027 Infoshare
• Internship opportunities for academic students
• Networking and mentoring opportunities

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can submit a participation request?

• ASIAS stakeholders interested in or already participating in research/analytical efforts with academic/research institutions
• Academic/research institutions focused on advancing aviation safety through the development and application of AI models and analytical capabilities

Is there a cost to participate?

No

Can teams include members from multiple organizations?

Yes

Will platform training be provided?

Yes

Will teams be able to use their own data or methods?

Yes, in coordination with The MITRE Corporation.

Can I participate if I attend or work at an institution/organization outside the United States?

No

Can I participate if I am not physically present in the United States?

No

What data can I use?

Data can be from multiple avenues including but not limited to:

• Your organization’s data if it is not currently shared with ASIAS
• Publicly available datasets accessible to you
• Unrestricted non-proprietary ASIAS datasets
• Proprietary ASIAS datasets provided by stakeholders that have explicitly agreed for their data to be leveraged for this effort

What are eligibility requirements?

• Each member of the team must meet all eligibility criteria
• An individual may be a member of more than one team
• Team sizes may vary widely. Each academic/research team must contain, at a minimum, one faculty advisor from the lead academic institution and two students who will work on the project
• Participating academic/research institutions must be based in the United States
• Eligibility is limited to individuals physically present in the United States
• A faculty advisor may advise more than one academic/research team
• Partnerships between organizations are encouraged but not required. Examples of partnerships include those between academic/research institutions, and those between ASIAS stakeholders and academic/research institutions
• Submission of a 3 – 5-page abstract
• An organization/team may submit more than one abstract
• An executed ASIAS partnership agreement by non-ASIAS stakeholder participants

Contact Information

For questions about the ASIAS Data Challenge, participation requests, or challenge logistics, please contact: andrew.dunbeck@delta.com and eugene.mangortey@united.com

Submit Your Participation Request

If your team is interested in contributing to aviation safety research through the ASIAS Data Challenge, submit your participation request.