Tag Archives: Aviation Quality Assurance

Aviation Fatigue Risk Management integration with Jeppesen CrewAlert

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FRMS Integration

Fatigue has been cited as a contributing factor in aviation accidents. Therefore, a robust Safety Management System (SMS) must take fatigue into account. Capturing and analyzing data within the SMS provides tangible evidence to both airlines and pilots on the effect of fatigue.

An effective Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) will rely on a culture that encourages reporting of observed hazards during operations. Under this culture, the pilot will be comfortable feeding back information on their performance during a flight. The analysis of the data captured provides information to the airline operations department, allowing them to proactively manage the impact of fatigue and adjust their recommendations for flying hours and rest times. This analytical, proactive approach to fatigue risk management builds on the same principles as those applied to SMS.

Ideagen Gael have partnered with Jeppesen, (Press release) a unit of Boeing Flight Services, to provide airlines with a new automated solution to report crew fatigue. CrewAlert, an iPhone application built on the Boeing Alertness Model (BAM), has been designed to help airlines and their crews manage alertness and fatigue. Through the partnership, CrewAlert is able to automatically submit crew fatigue reports directly into Ideagen Gael’s Q-Pulse product. This co-ordination allows airlines to create safety reports that aid root cause analysis when working to reduce crew fatigue

ACSF RECOGNIZES CAE AND GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE AS SUSTAINING MEMBERS

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Alexandria, VA, June 6, 2013 — The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) is pleased to recognize CAE and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation as sustaining members. Both companies have shown their commitment to the foundation’s vision of enhancing and improving safety through their generous financial support.

CAE is a global leader in modeling, simulation and training for civil aviation and defense. The company employs approximately 8,000 people at more than 100 sites and training locations in approximately 30 countries. CAE offers civil aviation, military and helicopter training services in more than 45 locations worldwide, and trains approximately 100,000 crew members yearly.

“I believe ACSF is one of the key drivers of safety and standards in the industry and want to support it and help shape where it is going,” said Rob Lewis, Vice President and General Manager for Business and Helicopter Aviation Training.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world’s most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. The company employs more than 12,500 people at 12 major locations.

“Gulfstream is excited to partner with Air Charter Safety Foundation as a sustaining member to further the mission and vision of the foundation,” said Gulfstream Aviation Safety Officer Tom Huff . “As a business aircraft manufacturer and world-wide service provider, it made perfect sense to join-on as a sustaining member to further safety of air charter and fractional ownership flight operations.”

“The generous support of CAE and Gulfstream enables the foundation to carry out its mission,” said ACSF President Bryan Burns. “We are extremely pleased that these companies share our vision to achieve the highest levels of safety in the industry.”

For further information, go to www.acsf.aero.

Dassault to expand Little Rock completion centre

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By:   Dave Majumdar Washington DC

12:00 3 Jun 2013 Source:FLIGHT

Dassault is planning to expand its completion center in Little Rock, Arkansas, in anticipation of the company’s new Falcon SMS business jet, which will be unveiled later this year.

“Our next step in the Falcon family is an airplane – the code name is SMS – and that’s really why we needed to extend our presence here,” says John Rosanvallon, president and chief executive of Dassault‘s Falcon Jet division. “This brand new Falcon will be introduced at the next NBAA [National Business Aviation Association] convention in Las Vegas [Nevada] in October and we believe it will be the best Falcon yet.”

Over the next three years, Rosanvallon says Dassault will invest $60 million in new construction and the refurbishment of its existing facilities in Little Rock.

The construction will add 250,000 sq ft (23,225 sq m) to the factory’s 1 million sq ft of floor space. The project will also include refurbishments of the cabinet, upholstery and headliner shops and upgrades to older hangars.

Site preparation for the work will start in early 2014 and construction will be undertaken through the early part of 2016.

 

Sextant Readings Solutions – aviation professionals with a focus on Safety and Risk Management, Quality Management and Quality Assurance, and Compliance for the Aviation Industry.  Sextant Readings Solutions is an IS-BAO Support Services Affiliate, IS-BAO safety consultant, and Auditor.  Ideagen Gael Limited recognizes Sextant Readings Solutions as the authorized re-seller of Q-Pulse®, Ideagen Gael Risk® and MindGenius® for aviation for the Americas.

Aviation Document Management

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Aviation Document Management

Whether you are flight crew, an aircraft engineer or ground staff, it’s imperative that the day to day use of circulated documentation must be accurate, up to date and accessible in order to achieve compliance standards set by aviation regulators.

A SMS Information Management solution Document Management provides a central storage for all controlled documents and associated records. Any documentation type, such as user manuals, company processes and procedures and associated supporting material, are fully supported.

Staff can be confident that they are accessing the latest version of any given document through their PC or mobile device at anytime, and in any place.

A SMS Information Management solution prevents the use of incorrect documents and always presents the most current approved revision to users. Documents are securely managed to prevent uncontrolled modifications, drafts or copies. Records pertaining to document change, history, approval and distribution are securely held for each revision of a document and are readily available for review. Document registers are automatically updated with approved changes, helping to eliminate the risk of human error.

The fundamental benefit of the Document Management module is its flexibility and capability. It dramatically reduces the bureaucratic burden of compliance management and provides an infrastructure to make the correct information available where needed. The module allows for efficient and effective change control and effortlessly demonstrates compliance to your management system. Significantly, it facilitates collective ownership of the management system within the organization.

The objectives for Document Management are to:

  • Make the correct information available at the point of need, when required
  • Encourage ownership of the compliance management system across an organization
  • Effectively manage change from an initial request, through drafting, approval, distribution and publishing
  • Contribute to more effective use of management system information
  • Reduce the bureaucracy of managing document control within a compliance management environment
  • Extend the accessibility of controlled documents throughout the organization and beyond via a secure web interface

Audit Management Software for Aviation

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Audit Management Software for Aviation

Auditing throughout the aviation industry is a mandatory task to ensure that certificated organizations are performing to the strict regulations set out by the governing bodies. Audits are performed regularly throughout the aviation industry and contribute to complying with standards as well as identifying shortfalls and areas of improvement.

The Q-Pulse Audit Management module provides the ability to check a proposed audit plan for coverage, completeness and availability before finalizing schedules, automatically creating and updating the audit calendar. Past audit reports and historical data and status of all previous audit and CA/PA findings are available for review. Audit checklists can be created, exported and imported to and from external sources and audit packs can be created as points of reference.

A trail of departments visited, people spoken to, and processes checked etc, simplifies the creation of the audit report. Positive findings and opportunities for improvement are included, individual records created for each finding and the audit report agreed, formalized and tracked to conclusion through Q-Pulse.

Q-Pulse continually monitors the status of each audit action from when it is raised until closure and ensures the compliance management system is properly maintained, managed, and that actions are not overlooked. Q-Pulse can integrate with email systems to offer point-of-need access to audit records direct from automatic email notifications of upcoming or overdue events or actions.

Audit Management provides a closed loop system from scheduling, through planning, conducting and following up of audits in a manner that supports organization-wide improvement.

Offline Audit extends the Q-Pulse compliance management solution, enabling auditors to perform key activities when not connected to Q-Pulse. Auditors can complete checklists and record document findings while on-site at the point of need.

The objectives of Audit Management are to:

  • Provide a central repository for all audit management information that allows the demonstration of compliance with minimum overheads and disruption
  • Manage internal, external and third party audits across a specific or any number of compliance management systems
  • Identify potential improvements in systems, processes, equipment, material and people
  • Report both positive audit results as well as managing actions and findings  through to conclusion
  • Manage the complete audit life cycle from scheduling, planning and conducting to reporting and following up actions through to conclusion.
  • Manage Audits offline, providing the import and export of data to record and perform audits remotely

 

 

Corrective/Preventative Action Management

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Corrective/Preventative Action Management

Q-Pulse manages non-conformance through the CA/PA, (Corrective Action/Preventative Action) module, by automating established workflows and highlighting areas of improvement. Any type of aviation organization can identify, manage, control and correct areas of non-compliance in order to correct and pass any type of regulatory requirements.

Direct access to compliance actions from a central register streamlines the management of processes, reducing the effort spent managing activities and accelerating time to completion for actions. Role-based message management closes the loop on overdue processes by enabling the conditional escalation of actions to other roles where required, and the setup of different workflows based on record content.

Once collected in the CA/PA Management module, information can be viewed in isolation, either in groups of related information or across the complete organization. Robust security allocates access to information as you require it.

Any number of reports can be published and saved in personal or shared folders which significantly reduce the amount of time and effort spent searching for information. In addition, the Analysis module provides extensive graphical grouping and trend reports that greatly assist in spotting related issues and more importantly help identify opportunities for improvement.

The flexibility and capability of the CA/PA Management module ensures Q-Pulse is core in enabling an organization to reap significant benefits from their compliance efforts.

The objectives for CA/PA Management are to:

  • Automate the non-conformance process for the business within a single system
  • Extend the non-conformance process throughout a business with a centralized approach
  • Promote a systematic and holistic approach to non-conformance management
  • Notify and manage those responsible for non-conformances that in turn promote reduction in recurrence
  • Streamline non-conformance management to increase stakeholder satisfaction and improve the bottom line

Aviation Hazard, Occurrence and Incident Reporting and Investigation

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Safety is the biggest focus within aviation, as a failure to comply in a process or procedure can lead to a catastrophic effect. Worldwide governing bodies, including ICAO, IBAC and IATA, encourage and enforce any company associated with aviation to have an effective safety management solution in place. As the US moves through the SMS rulemaking effort, the FAA has provided guidance for operators including Air Carriers, MRO’s, Manufacturers, Flight Schools, Corporate, Charter and General Aviation.

Throughout industry, it is widely acknowledged that encouraging a non-punitive reporting culture, or “just culture”, is an effective way to ensure quality and safety related incidents are reported – in turn, helping to prevent future occurrences.

As with any module in Q-Pulse, Incident Reporting and Investigation can be configured to manage multiple types of reports. Reports can be automated to include areas such as Bird Strikes, TCAS RA, Airprox, Flight Crew Reports, Cabin Crew Reports, Ground Handling Reports, Confidential Reporting and Voluntary Reporting programs (ASAP, MSAP) and any other type of report required in order to manage safety effectively and efficiently.

Through the Q-Pulse Incident Reporting and Investigation module, established workflows can be defined for each individual report with individual/department notifications of actions required, timescales for completion and escalation policies. Q-Pulse seamlessly integrates with an organization’s email software, ensuring that all individuals concerned with an incident have full visibility of the progress of on-going actions.

Current reports within the organization can be set up with a user friendly report designer, providing a complete overview at any time of safety performance. Furthermore, management can analyze the aggregate incident/occurrence data to identify trends, highlight improvement opportunities and mitigate risks throughout the organization.

For airlines, Q-Pulse Incident Reporting and Investigation can integrate with Flight Data Management (FOQA) solutions allowing the safety department direct access to specific FOQA events that are pertinent to their investigations, streamlining processes and delivering corrective/preventative actions in a timely manner.

The objectives for Incident Reporting and Investigation are to:

  • Capture reported data that reflects an organization’s adherence to regulator’s procedures
  • Provide a simple and effective incident reporting design interface
  • Applies automatically on-going action tracking and communication that replicates a company’s existing workflow

Provides an effective, user friendly overview to aid trend analysis, highlight areas of improvement and manage

Aviation SMS and FOQA Integration

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Sextant Readings recognizes that within the aviation industry there are many IT suppliers that provide systems to manage the day to day running of the organization. While Sextant Readings specializes in compliance, safety and quality software, there are also other IT suppliers that have synergies to allow Q-Pulse to effectively manage the data integrated from these systems to manage both quality and safety. Through integration, Sextant Readings’s approach is to create a holistic view of safety and in turn allow the organization to have a full understanding of areas of concern which can be identified for improvement.

FOQA integration is an extension of Q-Pulse that provides a two-way interface between Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) analysis through Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) solutions and the Safety Management System (SMS), which in turn streamlines the incident investigation process. Flight safety data can be centralized and at the same time improve visibility and accessibility throughout an organization.

Q-Pulse FOQA Integration encourages the reporting and subsequent investigation of events where operational parameters have been exceeded. Through the incidents being reported and investigated, corrective or preventative action can be taken to mitigate risks and in turn improve safety levels.

The FOQA data is instantly accessible from the SMS, allowing quick access to events related to an investigation, which in turn saves time and promotes corrective actions to be implemented more quickly.

Q-Pulse FDM Integration allows full analysis of related incidents and in turn can provide a review of associated incidents and enable the identification of trends, leading to improved safety levels and increased efficiency performance.
Ideagen Gael is partnered with three major FOQA solution suppliers:

  • Aerobytes
  • Flight Data Services
  • Sagem

Ideagen Gael is constantly working with other vendors to increase the scope of Q-Pulse FOQA Integration.

The objectives of FOQA Integration are to:

  • Encourage reporting and investigation of events where operational parameters have been exceeded
  • Improve safety levels and mitigate risk
  • Improve efficiency in the process of safety management
  • Identify trends for analysis and identify changes in processes and procedures where necessary

Aviation Safety Data Sharing Integration with Q-Pulse

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ASIAS (Aviation Safety Information Sharing and Analysis System) supported by the FAA and STEADES (Safety Trend Evaluation and Analysis Data Exchange System) provided by IATA and are aviation safety incident data management and analysis programs.

  • ASIAS combines data from a number of sources, including Flight Operations Quality Assurance programs (FOQA), Aviation Safety Action Programs (ASAP), the Aviation Safety Reporting System, the Air Traffic Safety Action Program for air traffic controllers, the national offload program, radar track data and data from ASDE-X.
  • The STEADES database provides the world’s largest database of de-identified airline incident reports, providing a secure environment for airlines to pool safety information for global benchmarking and analysis needs.

Both provide data on key safety performance indicators, helping airlines to benchmark and establish safety performance targets.

Operator data is made available to ASIAS using Application Program Interface (API) capability of Q-Pulse. STEADES integration with Q-Pulse allows customers to provide their data to IATA directly, securely and with confidence to contribute to the powerful analysis tool that IATA provides.

The objectives of STEADES integration is to:

  • Simplify the process for Ideagen Gael’s customers to provide data in a format required by regulators
  • Ensure data is communicated in a secure and confidential manner
  • Provides Ideagen Gael’s customers with the ability to contribute to the appropriate program with minimal effort.

Key Components of a Risk Management System

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Sextant Readings Solutions - Risk Key Components

Key Components of a Risk Management System

Risk management requires organization support, an assurance framework and the ability to manage a collection of risks and opportunities. An organization that is successful in implementing an effective risk management system will recognize that there is an upside and a downside to risk.

In order to benefit from a robust risk management system, there are five key components that an organization is required to implement. It should:

  • Ensure executive management support and understanding
  • Consider risk in objective setting and decision making
  • Make the management system transparent, inclusive and accessible to all
  • Continually sense change and respond accordingly
  • Ensure that engagement is systematic, timely and sustainable

The Challenges

Ensuring these five key components comes with its own challenges.

Organizations face the challenge of ensuring that the terminology and methodologies are widely understood and consistently applied. All risk must be systematically evaluated, assessed and managed effectively and risk management and understanding must be widely adopted in all disciplines across the organization.

Risk management is an on-going process, and organizations must be ever ready for scrutiny and able to stand up to audit, as well as to ensure that learning from every incident is shared.

The Pitfalls

For effective risk management, organizations must avoid storing information in disconnected systems, formats and locations and make sure that change is managed and communicated effectively. Organizations are also open to exposure from actions that are not assigned or completed while time intensive and error prone reporting processes could be harmful, or even fatal, to the business