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How engineers analyze data for safer flights

Program turns flight data into evidence-based training recommendations for airlines.

October 20, 2026 in Innovation, Safety

A Boeing 737 MAX lands on an airport runway. The plane is clear and in focus while everything around it is blurred and in motion-- a style of photo editing used to make the airplane stand out. The Safety Data Analytics team has analyzed millions of data points from 737 MAX flights to make pilot training recommendations aimed at improving flight safety. (Artist rendering)

When Boeing engineer Bill Pieser and his teammates brief airline customers on safety data, they often hear the same response: “Yeah, we see that too.”

That recognition is the point, and why they are intent on finding new safety revelations buried in millions of data points. Pieser and data analysts in Boeing Global Services are identifying Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) — industry benchmarks to monitor, measure, and assess safety performance — to help inform pilot training recommendations.

“Our mission is to make flying safer,” Pieser said. “We are able to show customers what happened using descriptive analytics, and they can implement programs to improve what happened.”

The data is making a difference. Since 2024, the SDA team has helped improve customer performance in 75 percent of SPIs according to flight data from all participating airlines.  For example, analysis conducted by the SDA team has helped 18 participating customers reduce long landings by as much as 15 percent over a 12-month period.

Scaling safety solutions

The data analysis wouldn’t be useful without architecture designed to help continuously improve flight safety.

Pieser and the Safety Data Analytics team can use the SPIs to make training recommendations to customers. They have developed a proprietary knowledge graph and automated processes to help analyze flight data trends, causal factors, and identify new SPIs. This process allows for faster recommendations that can help keep up with emerging trends and improve customer safety outcomes.

A Boeing 737 MAX-10 with Boeing livery performs a brake test on a runway. Green grass is in front of the plane and blue sky is behind it. The plane has traveled past the photographer, who is capturing the even from afar with a zoom lens. A 737 MAX performs a brake test. By analyzing data from aircraft operations, Boeing's Safety Data Analytics team helps transform operational insights into recommendations that support safer flights.

“The airlines we’ve spoken to are interested in seeing how data can make pilot training more effective,” Pieser said. “It has the potential to inform how experience and fatigue impact flight deck management, and it’s allowing us to consider system performance and pilot training and potential flight deck design.”

Safety Data Analytics is an example of Boeing’s focus on Global Aerospace Safety aimed to transform the way pilot training is approached to meet the demands of a rapidly growing aviation industry. The program has jumped to more than 60 airline customers and has expanded to widebody aircraft.

Passionate about flight safety

The depth and methodology behind Pieser’s innovations stem from his lifelong passion for aviation safety. A U.S. Air Force veteran and certified Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) with four decades of flying experience, Pieser has first-hand insight into the split-second crew decisions his team works to understand and improve.

Bill Pieser smiles at the camera while sitting at the 737 flight simulator he built in his home in Colorado. Pieser is wearing a black Boeing polo shirt, and his left hand is touching the yoke of the simulator. Bill Pieser, lead architect of the Safety Data Analytics knowledge graph, shares a look at a 737 flight simulator he built in his home in Colorado. (Photo courtesy of Bill Pieser)

“Aviation safety is incredibly meaningful to me. I’ve landed a light airplane on an engine loss with my dad sitting next to me,” Pieser said. “I give aviation decision-making credit for all my success in the business world.

“Being a technical leader for this Safety Data Analytics program is a culmination of many years of work being put to practical use for safety. It feels great to contribute to that.”

By Pat Chiesa