Applying STAMP to aviation state safety oversight: An integration framework

State Safety Oversight (SSO) is a fundamental process in aviation, through which Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) collect and evaluate safety data to assess state-level safety performance. To support these activities, CAAs are required to implement a State Safety Programme and a National Aviation Safety Plan. However, the effective implementation of these frameworks depends on the availability of credible inputs for monitoring and managing safety. Current safety performance monitoring practices rely predominantly on quantitative analyses, which are often constrained by data scarcity and implicit assumptions that past trends reliably predict future system behavior. Advances in safety, however, provide opportunities to complement these approaches with qualitative analyses capable of addressing the complexity of modern aviation systems. This paper proposes the use of a systemic approach to safety (specifically Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes) to expand qualitative analysis at the state level. An integration framework consisting of several procedures covering key state-level functions is proposed, supporting the implementation of the systemic approach within SSO to provide a more accurate representation of state safety performance and new ways of managing it. The framework was developed using a qualitative research approach combining a review of current SSO practices and regulatory requirements with expert input from two Central European CAAs. The proposed procedures were demonstrated on representative case studies based on existing System-Theoretic Process Analyses and further assessed through qualitative expert feedback.