AvMaSSI - SM4 Safety Articles & Resources

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Airport control tower at sunset

Leadership, Accountability and Your Organization’s Risk Profile

Recent media attention has cast light on the unusual number of aviation system-related accidents, incidents and near-misses that have plagued our industry over the past several months.

Posted on March 31, 2025
check engine lights

Check Engine Light: The Illusion of Program Effectiveness

An aviation company’s responsibility is to ensure regulatory compliance and conformance to its internal policies, procedures and processes, including voluntary standards. To do that, leaders and team members throughout an organization must understand and monitor the “dashboard lights.”

Posted on November 5, 2024
fingers pointing in multiple directions

Leadership, Management and Safety: Embracing Compliance and Conformance Oversight

Aviation operations, and by default, safety, are based on the idea that regulatory requirements are fundamental to establishing a framework to achieve safe operations.

Posted on February 7, 2024
risk management team

Management of Change (MoC): A Collaborative Approach To Raising Awareness Amidst a Constant State of Change

Identifying and managing hazards affecting an operation’s integrity is a fundamental objective of all flight departments or organizations working within a risk-based environment. In aviation, more and more operators are coming to the conclusion, and rightly so, that mere regulatory compliance is not an assurance of operational integrity and safety.

Posted on February 28, 2023
pilot checking aircraft

The Importance of Being Consistent—Aviation’s Most Cost-Effective Safety Tool.

Within the aviation community, one of the most basic tasks pilots learn from day one of training is to perform a pre-flight inspection (PFI). The PFI is a visual walk-around of the aircraft to enable the pilot, using sight and touch, to determine the basic condition of the aircraft, systems and functional controls for the purpose of flight.

Posted on January 10, 2022
time to act sign

Vigilance! Now More Than Ever. A Time to Act!

As the aviation community begins its rebound from the COVID-19 experience, managers and safety professionals must be focused on getting staff back to work safely and returning to pre-COVID routines. One thing is for certain, bringing staff back to full strength to match the rebound has uncovered some less-than-desired consequences, even for those operators who believe they have a fully functional SMS.

Posted on July 30, 2021
Standard operating procedure spray painted on road

The Bedrock of Aviation—Standard Operating Procedures… Consider the Variables!

Aviation is all about standard operating procedures and their more-beloved acronym “SOP.” With the current COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on staffing levels, operators have had to make some hard decisions, whose impact may not be readily apparent. This article illuminates the risk in assuming SOPs are, in fact, standards.

Posted on October 30, 2020
Technicians studying blueprints in hangar

The Journey to the New Normal: is Your Organization Prepared to Resume Operations?

In hindsight, it is fair to say that the world was ill‐prepared to cope with the COVID‐19 pandemic. Although not commeasurable to the Black Death of the 14th century or…

Posted on April 29, 2020
Man wearing face mask waiting for luggage

Aviation Operations in the Year of the Coronavirus

During these uncertain times, employers are relying on their internal programs to assure employees and customers alike that operations can and will be conducted in a safe manner but with…

Posted on March 23, 2020