The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) was founded as a nonprofit organization in 2008 with a mission to lead and support the advancement of the highest aviation safety standards. By sharing information and resources, the foundation helps personal and business aviation entities provide safe operations.
SAFETY IS JOB NO. 1
The ACSF is run by a small staff and guided by an elected board of professionals from across the aviation industry. The organization offers services and tools to aid its members in developing a just culture, a safety management system (SMS) program, and an aviation safety action program (ASAP). The ACSF also provides external safety audits.
The foundation offers a host of resources for its members and nonmembers alike, from US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) information and fixed-base operator (FBO) status updates to a hotline to report illegal charters and links to Safety Management International Collaboration Group safety management products.
The organization also hosts an annual two-day safety symposium at which current and emerging safety challenges in air charter and business aviation are reviewed and discussed and safety workshops are conducted.
PARTNERSHIP WITH HAI
Recently, the ACSF partnered with HAI to provide affordable SMS service and ASAP support for HAI members. The ACSF is one of four HAI partners that work with HAI members to develop multitiered SMS programs that can be tailored to various missions, fleets, and operational environments in the helicopter industry.
The ACSF’s SMS service for HAI members includes consultation, support, and access to the ACSF’s SMS software to help set up, maintain, and improve an SMS in a rotorcraft operation of any size. The software, designed for flight departments, FBOs, and MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) shops, is secure, mobile friendly, simple, and highly customizable. It allows operators to document safety events, track audit compliance data, conduct safety risk assessments, assign corrective actions, monitor fatigue, develop safety checklists, conduct surveys, create emergency response checklists, aggregate data, evaluate safety cultures, export reports, and more.
For HAI members interested in its ASAP program, the ACSF will work with you to organize the co-signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between you, the local FAA Fight Standards District Office (FSDO), and the ACSF. Once the MOU is finalized, the ACSF will work with you to begin your program participation. An ACSF representative will offer train-the-trainer coursework for your ASAP representative as well as for your local FSDO and its ASAP representative. Your ASAP rep can then train fellow employees in the program rules as well as report submission.
To learn how to get started with SMS, visit this HAI page
To get started with ASAP, visit the HAI page
