In the latest USAIG newsletter, the ACSF’s President & CEO Bryan Burns explains how SMS, ASAP and FDM work to build safer aviation operations and deliver value.
As any C-level executive will tell you, they’re constantly measuring every piece of data within the organization, from financials to operational performance.
But where’s their dashboard for safety?
Whether running a corporate flight department or an on-demand air charter company, you need data, too. Of course, your highly qualified, well-trained team thinks they’re safe. But if no safety metrics are in place, how can you be absolutely confident?
When it comes down to it, the strength of your business resides in the hands of your aviation employees and their safety management system (SMS). Not to mention a suite of best-in-practice safety tools that work with it, like ASAP and FDM.
So, let’s look at our options for building that confidence.
ASAP & FDM = SAFETY METRICS
An Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) is a reporting tool that can tell you why something happened from a frontline employee’s perspective. This results from having an employee submit a report after a safety-related incident. The beauty of an ASAP report is that there’s no “punishment” from the company or the FAA for having surfaced the issue. It’s all a part of an effort to share critical data and help one another learn from it—to strengthen and enhance continuous improvement.
Meanwhile, a Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) program tells you what happened during a flight. It lets you see how your pilots perform from every takeoff to every landing. Unlike ASAP, which involves human reporting, the FDM data itself has no emotion; it’s just black and white, ones and zeros.
Putting these two data points together can often paint a more holistic picture for safety practitioners. These data can help operations in many ways—from training improvements to operational cost savings.
OVERCOMING BARRIERS
If you have the right safety-minded people in your organization, they’ll agree to adjust and focus on becoming better pilots. But if your staff is uncomfortable admitting mistakes and learning from them, you’ll likely face difficulty implementing ASAP and FDM.
So, you first have to build that trust when working through your SMS. But once you have that built-in “just culture,” reporting tools will be better received. Hopefully, you’ll have advocates among your crew who’ve had some experience using ASAP and FDM at the airlines or other operators.
And if, by chance, you’re having a hard time convincing your executives to implement new safety initiatives, then explain that improvements in safety reporting equate to better retention, a better brand and better value. Your team will make you safer and make themselves better, and that, of course, strengthens your organization.
Aviation safety is both a cost and a cost savings. Luckily, especially with FDM, there are efficiencies that you can gain in your operation, whether it’s saving on your brake linings, fuel or other items. And if you’re bent on building a great organization, there’s no question that you have to be on the leading edge of technology and best practices. You need programs like SMS, ASAP and FDM to attract the best talent, to grow, and ultimately to charge a little bit more because you have a safer, more expensive product.
GETTING STARTED WITH FDM
Once you’re ready for a Flight Data Monitoring solution, consider what you will collect and measure. What data are you most interested in analyzing and why? What’s a quick “win” that can help improve your training efforts—and possibly save you money?
Secondly, choose your technology. If your aircraft is not already FDM- or FOQA-equipped, you need a device to track it on the aircraft. At the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF), we partner with AirSync, which offers several cost-effective hardware solutions that enable you to pull the data off the aircraft. The next step is to review and analyze the data. That’s where our software partner, CloudAhoy, comes in. The company (now owned by ForeFlight) compiles the flight data. Then, they translate it into great-looking, intuitive graphics that are easy to understand and make better decisions with.
My advice? Just begin with one FDM device on one aircraft and see how it performs. Go slowly. You’ll start learning more about your organization immediately from that first device. That will eventually lead to a new cultural paradigm for safety and performance.
Starting simply like this makes it easier to wade into the pool.
FOREFRONT OF TECH & TALENT
Tools like ASAP and FDM aren’t new. So, by rights, they should be the standard we will all carry forward. Consider it the future of aviation and safety. Obviously, airlines and larger operators are using tools like these to improve their operations. You can count on these programs to improve not just your safety objectives but your business operation as well.
What’s more, many aviation universities, like Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for one, are using FDM programs as well as ASAP. So when the alumni of these colleges start looking for jobs and don’t see employers using these programs, they’ll feel like they’re taking a step backward.
And, of course, for those working for smaller business aviation operators today, who may want to progress to larger departments—even the airlines—we want to ensure that we’re sending off the absolute best-trained, safety-minded pilots possible.
The overall goal of FDM is to improve your program from a training perspective. You want to use it as a preemptive tool, not just for a post-accident investigation. And definitely not for disciplinary action. Using it as intended, you can assess human performance and enhance your operation.
At the ACSF, we’re working diligently to make SMS, ASAP and FDM accessible, even to the smallest operators. It no longer takes years to implement these programs, nor does it require an outlay of tens of thousands of dollars. The “sweet spot” is that, now, you can install these safeguards at a relatively low cost.
Effectively implementing new safety tools will require having people on your team who are willing and ready to receive the feedback. The intent is not disciplinary. It’s a question of “How can we be better?” You can be assured that there are several ways to manage those safety metrics and grow the business in preparation for tomorrow. And the ACSF can help you understand how.
As you’ve probably surmised, integrating an FDM program to augment your active SMS and ASAP functions literally touches every aspect of your operation. It’s simply the right thing to do in our current aviation environment and the next logical step on the path to continuous safety.
SPECIAL OFFER FOR ELIGIBLE USAIG INSUREDS
The USAIG Performance Vector benefit can be applied toward participation in ACSF’s ASAP. Air Charter Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) helps flight operators identify and reduce flight safety concerns and mitigate risks. It’s an easy, open, self-reporting initiative offering third-party facilitation, tracking and corrective action recommendations. Participation can enhance and improve your overall safety culture.
For eligible USAIG policyholders with 25 or fewer employees and/or fleets of up to six total aircraft, a USAIG Performance Vector selection can be used to cover both the annual ACSF membership dues and the annual ASAP administrative fee. Eligible policyholder organizations larger than that can still apply their benefit toward the ACSF ASAP, but in that case, USAIG covers only the annual ACSF membership dues, and the operator must self-fund its ASAP fee.
Contact your broker, aviation underwriter, or USAIG’s Aviation Safety Programs staff to get started.
