NASA Aviation Safety Program elements encompass a wide range of products that require both public and private investment. Therefore, two methods of analysis, one relating to the public and the other to the private industry, must be combined to understand and evaluate the program elements. Standard benefit analysis is limited in its application to research and development programs where private industry is one of the primary vehicles to technology adoption. In general, benefit analysis is

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... when a government decision is about to be made and the basis of the analysis assumptions are: (1) that the good to be mandated or purchased by the government is a public good and therefore the cumulative benefits to the public can be used to evaluate the investment and (2) that market is unlikely to make this investment on its own. In this case, the benefit analysis is required to identify both the public benefits of the proposed technologies, since safety is, indeed, a public good, as well as the private benefits to the industry likely to adopt the technology. In many cases private industry has been directly involved with the program as the products have been developed. Moreover, the private industry has contributed its perspective on the necessary conditions for investment.