SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Aviation Risk Management Is More Than Data and Processes

In most aviation safety management systems (SMS), the single most important factor for superior risk management capabilities often, unfortunately, receives the least attention: a mature safety risk culture – which we can confidently say is the collective risk management attitude of an organization.

Experience and research tell us that the risk attitude of employees significantly influences whether an aviation SMS delivers the level of safety that it promises.

Aviation SMS in Flight Schools Benefits Everyone

When I first forayed into the aviation industry, the first thing I learned was that the aviation industry is far more than simply flying.

While flight schools' primary goals are to prepare future pilots to be successful, a critical part of that success includes safety.

A Different Look at Aviation SMS Human Factors

I’ve never much cared for the phrase “Human Factors.”

It has a negative edge to it that unfortunately has tended to bleed into the mindset of many aviation SMS implementations as the “Human Problem” - the thing that needs to be fixed.

The FAA SAS Profile for

As you may already know from our previous post, our FAA SAS Profile provides the collection of tools that aviation safety professionals need for assessing their certificates' safety assurance requirements.

Our SAS Profile tool can help:

Understanding FAA SAS

Flight Standards Service (AFS) Safety Assurance System (SAS) is the new oversight system for 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 121, 135 and 145. Ultimately, SAS will be used for other applicable CFR parts.

SAS is not a separate safety standard and does not impose additional requirements on certificate holders; it provides aviation safety inspectors (ASI) with standardized protocols to evaluate certificate holder programs required by regulations to be approved or accepted.

Adaptability in Aviation SMS

The basic fact is that truly judging the effectiveness of aviation safety management systems (SMS) is tough.

To merely judge the effectiveness of a program based on how well it meets compliance sounds prescriptive at best.

Judging a program based on a number of incidents and other such numeric data is terribly inadequate. It doesn’t take into account so many other factors that can reveal an SMS' health, such as:

Transparency Is a Philosophical Question

A high level of transparency in aviation safety management systems (SMS) is critical for creating:

• A Just Culture.
• A safety reporting culture.
• A culture of safety.

I think most, if not all, aviation safety managers would agree with me on this. Aviation safety data security is commonly under the control of an SMS administrator, who may also be the director of safety.