Steve Potts
Steve Potts, of Swedish-Norwegian descent, was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, where his passion for flying began early. Earning his pilot’s license at 16, he built a 30-year career, flying single-engine Cessnas and twin-engine turboprops across Alaska’s challenging terrains. Starting as a bush pilot, Steve delivered supplies to remote villages, later flying commercial routes for regional airlines in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. With over 15,000 flight hours, he became a respected mentor and advocate for aviation safety. In 2015, Steve joined SMS Pro, a leader in Safety Management System software. As a senior consultant, he develops safety protocols and training, helping aviation organizations worldwide meet international standards. Steve remains active in Fairbanks, occasionally flying and volunteering with youth programs. He holds a Bachelor’s in Aviation Technology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is a certified flight instructor (CFI) and Airline Transport Pilot (ATP), and enjoys skiing and preserving his heritage through traditional cooking.
Sell SMS to Top Management
Securing top management support is critical for a successful aviation Safety Management System (SMS), ensuring compliance with FAA Part 5 and ICAO Annex 19 while enhancing safety for airlines, airports, MROs, and flight schools. These four actionable tips, leveraging SMS Pro tools, help safety managers pitch SMS effectively, overcoming resistance and driving organizational buy-in, as discussed in our management support guide.
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Topics:
1-Safety Policy
Why Is Safety Culture So Important?
In many of today's articles about aviation safety management systems, there is something about safety culture. Why? Safety culture ties into every part of your SMS, feeding it as your SMS nurtures your safety culture in return.
It’s a symbiotic relationship, like honeybees and flowers. Each one needs the other to grow and thrive. When your safety culture thrives, your SMS is easier to build and maintain.
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Topics:
Safety Culture
Or How to Create an Aviation SMS in 7 Simple Steps
You’re probably familiar with the 4 Phases of SMS implementation outlined by ICAO 9859. Here, I’ll break them down another way, into 7 steps.
For a deep dive into how to use the 4 Phases of SMS implementation, start with How to Complete Phase 1 of Aviation SMS Implementation.
If, for whatever reason, the four phases don’t resonate with you, here is another way to look at building an SMS for aviation service providers. Much like the 4 phases, these are not steps that must be taken in order.
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Topics:
Aviation SMS Implementation
What Is Responsibility?
Responsibility n. the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. (Oxford Dictionary)
Most of us learned about responsibility as children. Our parents gave us responsibilities like walking the dog or loading the dishwasher. As adults, we’re responsible for paying our bills, finishing our tasks at work, and doing the laundry.
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Topics:
Quality-Safety Management
Why Is Teamwork Important?
Teamwork is a word used often in the workplace. We’ve all heard that it’s important to work together. Why cover the same ground again?
Lack of teamwork can have serious safety consequences. In aviation, our jobs affect others. Even when we seem to be working on our own, our work ties into other parts of the operation.
Safety is part of being a good teammate and teamwork plays a key role in safety. As such, we all take on responsibility for being good teammates and keeping each other safe.
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Topics:
4-Safety Promotion
The Importance of an Aviation SMS Manual
ICAO requires an SMS manual for many aviation organizations required to abide by their SMS mandate. It is very tempting to gloss over your manual... to get it out of the way and never look at it again.
Manuals aren't sexy, and most of the time, they're boring at best. I've read a lot of manuals that were downright painful.
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Topics:
Aviation SMS Implementation,
1-Safety Policy
What Is ICAO?
The International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, was founded in 1944. It's a United Nations specialized agency that establishes international standards for civil aviation.
Of the 195 recognized countries in the world today, 192 are ICAO member states.
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Topics:
Aviation SMS Implementation
What Is Predictive Risk Management?
Proactive and predictive risk management are difficult to separate. Proactive risk management identifies safety concerns before events occur. Predictive risk management aims to predict future risk based on past performance data.
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Topics:
2-Safety Risk Management
What Are KPIs?
KPIs, or key performance indicators, track performance in business, quality, and safety. Understanding and using KPIs is a crucial part of SMS.
SMS can track hundreds of data points, especially when using advanced SMS software. Use data tied to objectives and goals to get the most from your KPIs.
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Topics:
Key Performance Indicators,
2-Safety Risk Management