In 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required commercial airliners to develop a comprehensive SMS to improve safety for the flying public. Although the FAA has not required other revenue passenger-carrying operators to have one. These “other revenue passenger-carrying operators” include the cubs in AK that move hunters and fishermen around AK, the helicopter tours in HI and AZ, etc. Although we have seen some voluntary adoption of SMS programs, a vast majority of operators continue operating without an SMS in place. It’s time more got on board. The risk to the flying public is too great not to.
By establishing an effective safety management system (SMS) and creating a safety culture aimed at making safety a focus first and always, operators will improve aviation safety and reduce the risk of accidents. An SMS is a formal, top-down, organization-wide approach to managing safety risk and assuring the effectiveness of safety risk controls. An SMS should address four components: safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, safety promotion. It can be scalable to the size and complexity of operations, yet too many operators either do not have one in place or have an ineffective one.
