Safety Systems (SMS)
Article
Risk Is a Choice: How an SMS Can Help Prevent Runway Excursions
Every accident starts with a choice. It is a decision among a sequence of actions that can still be within the boundaries of rules, but for too many business aviation operations, it is a sequence of choices that ends in a runway excursion.
Article
SMS for the Small Operator
“I know that there are those who complain that they’re too small for a Safety Management System (SMS). Or that it’s too costly. Or that they don’t have time. One by one: No one and no company is too small for a SMS. The cost of a SMS is far less than the cost of an accident.”
Article
Pilot Error Accidents: There Is More To the Story
Working directly with an aviation emergency response firm gives me unique insight into the complex and often cascading factors involved in understanding accident causation. Although pilot error is an often-cited root cause, it is easy to see it is rarely, if ever, that simple.
Article
SMS Policy Review: Is Your Safety Culture Adaptable, Flexible and Resilient?
As the early months of 2021 unfold, this is a gentle reminder that it is time to dust off the SMS manual and perform your company’s annual policy SMS review. While our current work days continue to go sideways with pandemic-based tasks, this might be a perfect opportunity to get some quality Zoom time with your accountable executive (AE).
Article
When Systems Fail: Overcoming Systemic Comfort Zones and the Rebirth of Self-Reliance
In the last week, I found myself smack dab in the middle of the plunging polar vortex that took power, heat, water and the ability to travel away from millions of people in Texas (including my family). This has become the focal point of a national debate about electrical grid reliability across the nation.
Article
Was There a Decrease in Runway Excursions in 2020?
We now know that a global pandemic affects different industries in different ways. Retail liquor stores, package delivery companies and online meeting software all saw COVID-related bumps in sales. Restaurants, bars and most of aviation have experienced a COVID slump.
Article
Your Pandemic Operating Plan: Process vs. People
By now, most organizations seem to be well on their way to developing their pandemic operating plan, how they will continue to do business in a pandemic environment. In business aviation, the plan must detail how you will move people from location to location, stay compliant, and meet your responsibility and defensibility goals.
Article
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.
Article
Making your Risk Assessment Tool a STAR
Mention the acronym GUMPS to just about any fixed wing pilot and watch their eyes move upward and to the right. Their neurolinguistics are probably showing you they are visually remembering: gas, undercarriage, mixture, props and safety. It is a tried-and-true mental checklist and litany that has served, and saved, many a pilot
Article
Empirical Safety Data Finally Emerges Regarding Masks and Face Coverings. It May Not Be What You Expected.
More than six months have now passed since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) became an international household word. Paradoxically, only until recently has any demonstrable evidence surfaced to evaluate the recommendations coming from the health community.
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