SMS Pro Aviation Safety Software Blog 4 Airlines & Airports

Reviewing Your Human Factors Training Program

When was the last time you took a good look at your Human Factors (HF) course?

Does it strategically focus on the current aviation maintenance problem areas?

Or are you literally trying to cover dozens of topics in just two days? If you don't know these major topics, check the EASA human factors recommended training syllabus.

There is good news...

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:

Managers' Challenge to Realize Meaningful Change

The value of any aviation service provider rests on its ability to adapt quickly by making informed and effective decisions. But management's decision-making power is only as strong as its underlying data.

Weak data erodes confidence, creates delays, or worse – it could lead to misguided judgments and fatal accidents.

Alternatively, a robust LOSA data management program provides a foundation for:

• Accountability;
• Transparency,

Learning to Benefit From LOSA Programs

Congratulations! You’ve completed your Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA). You are ready to strategize and reap the benefits of your proactive LOSA strategy.

Now, one of the final steps in the LOSA process is setting up targets for enhancement based on the rich data you’ve collected. Within the LOSA data, you will undoubtedly uncover trends and issues that you were blinded to (which is one of the primary benefits of LOSA). With these identified trends and issues, you will be able to set your safety targets (i.e., targets for improvement).

Daily SMS Activities May Preclude Routine Review

The new year has started. Business activities are beginning to return to full speed. At full speed, aviation safety managers may be putting out fires. These fires may cause safety teams to look continuously ahead when they should occasionally be looking back.

Aviation safety managers at all stages of their aviation safety management system (SMS) implementations should be monitoring activities relevant to the phase of their SMS implementation.

Ignorance Is No Excuse for Regulatory SMS Noncompliance

Imagine you come to Anchorage to play ping pong at NorthWest Data Solutions' headquarters. You fancy yourself as a pretty good ping pong player, so you are confident that you will not be skunked by NWDS' professional software engineers.

A small problem may arise as you are trying to keep score.

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.

Do You Understand These Aviation SMS Requirements?

How many of you find reading FAA's Part 5-Safety Management Systems relaxing and enjoyable?

Do you pick up Part 5 during your vacation and say, "Wow, this is so cool!?" Let's enjoy some light reading while I'm watching the kids play in the water. Part 5 is not a difficult read, especially if you are familiar with aviation SMS requirements.

But some snares will grab you like a shark coming from underneath.

FAA Part 5 Requirements - Can a Layman Understand This?

The dust has settled since the FAA has released "Safety Management Systems for Domestic, Flag, and Supplemental Operations Certificate Holders." Being an aviation SMS geek, I finally got around to reading it with a critical eye.

If you are the safety manager for a part 121 carrier, chances are that you have already read it. I'm wondering whether other safety managers are seeing what I'm seeing, or am I misunderstanding these Part 5 SMS requirements?