Washington, DC -- NAV CANADA, Canada's air navigation service provider, selected CSSI, Inc., a technical and engineering services company, to conduct a safety assessment of their April 2002 implementation of reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) in the Northern Canadian Region. CSSI, Inc., also performed the organization's pre-implementation risk assessment.

Risk assessments and safety analysis efforts like this will be required by most countries to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization's November 27, 2003 deadline to establish "safety objectives applicable to the provision of Air Traffic Services," which includes a risk assessment and safety analysis component. The International Civil Aviation Organization, of which Canada is a member, is a consortium of 188 national aviation governing bodies.

"Being given contracts to do both the risk assessment and safety analysis demonstrates how satisfied our customers are with our work," said Bob Miller, Director of CSSI's Airspace Analysis and Modeling Business Unit.

The objective of the post-implementation safety analysis is to ascertain whether or not the same degree of safety is being maintained. To that end, CSSI uses identical metrics and methodologies to conduct the risk assessment and safety analysis.

The assessment and analysis involve a mathematical model that correlates the various characteristics of the airspace, including the physical properties and technical performance of the aircraft fleet, the frequency in which aircraft cross a common point within a specified time interval, and unsafe performance during specific flights attributable to operational errors.

"We hope to continue to use our mathematical and technical expertise to support the safety efforts of other countries," said Miller.

CSSI has worked for years on international RVSM projects, supporting regional and domestic RVSM implementations and providing RVSM monitoring services in the Asia-Pacific region, in the South China Sea, in the Middle East, in Australia, and - most recently - in Canada. The CSSI team has monitored more than 2,000 flights worldwide.

Founded in 1990, CSSI, Inc., is an engineering and technical services company specializing in systems analysis and engineering, airspace initiatives, and information and program management. Clients include the international and U.S. aviation industry, the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the Department of Defense.