July 23, 2009, Alexandria, VA — The Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General (IG) recently issued a report scrutinizing the oversight of on-demand operators by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). One of the findings by the IG was that the FAA lacked a “risk-based oversight strategy.” The report further stated that “on-demand operators have more risk in their operating environments and receive less oversight from the FAA.” The IG recommended that the FAA strengthen its oversight and implement a risk assessment oversight process for on-demand operators.
The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) has developed the Industry Audit Standard (IAS) program specifically for on-demand operators. This audit program not only evaluates an air charter operator’s and/or shared ownership company’s safety and regulatory compliance, it also includes the evaluation of the operator’s Safety Management System (SMS).
In response to the IG’s concern with the lack of risk-based oversight by the FAA, ACSF is pleased to state that the IAS is an excellent tool that can help the FAA respond to that need. The IAS incorporates principles of risk assessment and oversight while remaining scalable to every size and type of operator. The first and only audit program designed specifically for on-demand operators that also evaluates the operator’s SMS program against both FAA and international standards, the IAS assesses the safety risk management of the operator’s day-to-day functions. The audit evaluates the operator’s SMS for effective implementation and documentation, identification of critical characteristics of its system and operational environment, identification of hazards and risk-based decision making, and the design of risk controls.
The IAS is conducted every 24 months and is quite in-depth in its evaluation of regulatory compliance and SMS procedures, prompting operators to review and improve their safety risk management processes continuously. This is especially important for the industry as on-demand operations occur in continuously changing environments. This ground-breaking audit program could help the FAA in implementing and conducting risk-based oversight. The FAA has been regularly briefed on the IAS and several FAA staff attended an IAS audit. The FAA has been highly complementary of the ACSF IAS.
The ACSF will conduct audits of approximately forty Part 135 operators this year using the IAS. The program continues to grow with operators wanting to be registered as an IAS participant. The goal of the ACSF has been to develop a single, consistent, high-quality standard whereby on-demand operators are held accountable, and we are pleased to say that the IAS accomplishes that goal.
Customers should look for the ACSF IAS registered logo and encourage their preferred charter provider to participate in the program. Any consumer can quickly and easily validate the status of an operator through the ACSF IAS Registry at acsfdev.com/registry.
Supporting materials describing the IAS and audit process are available at acsfdev.com/audit. Operators wishing to initiate the audit process should contact Russ Lawton at 1-888-SAFE-135 (888-723-3135).
