SOAR+® Advanced SMS

cropped-Captain-Major-Web-Image-1080x300Sextant Readings Solutions works closely with Patrick S. Major Inc. in supporting aviation safety management globally.

When using term SOAR+, Soar+, or otherwise referencing Patrick S. Major, Inc.’s proprietary safety of operations audit and resolution of safety issues process, and/or its flight data monitoring (FDM)-based safety of operations assessment, risk management, airmanship enhancement, and asset protection processes, kindly depict as follows “SOAR+®,” with the ® prominently displayed.

SOAR+, a practical, results-oriented, approach to the art and best-practice of aviation, represents the foundational underpinning for next generation safety management systems (SMS).

The Magnitude of Change

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The Magnitude of Change

November 12th, 2014

A lot has been written lately on the weaknesses of many change-management strategies and why many change projects fail.  One simple guideline that can avoid many of these problems is simply to make the change in easy steps and to manage the perception of the magnitude of change.

Fact is, too much change too fast overloads people and systems.  Overload causes inefficiencies and other problems all of which demotivate the change effort and the people involved. This does not mean that massive changes are impossible, it simply means that the change has to be divided into bite-sized pieces.  Each piece has to be palatable and not prompt the overload mentality.

So if you want to change your culture or employee behavior or perceptions, pick out a few and give them the old “sell it to yourself first” test.  If thinking about the bite makes you nervous or fearful, take a few items off the list till it seems easy to do.  People don’t inherently resist change as much as they resist force and overload.  All change strategies should mapped and each step should be relatively easy to do and not create negative emotions. How effective are your change strategies?

-Terry L. Mathis

For more insights, visit www.ProActSafety.com

Terry L. Mathis is the founder and CEO of ProAct Safety, an international safety and performance excellence firm. He is known for his dynamic presentations in the fields of behavioral and cultural safety, leadership, and operational performance, and is a regular speaker at ASSE, NSC, and numerous company and industry conferences. EHS Today listed Terry as a Safety Guru in ‘The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS in 2010, 2011 and 2012-2013. He has been a frequent contributor to industry magazines for over 15 years and is the coauthor of STEPS to Safety Culture Excellence, 2013, WILEY.

GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE RENEWS ACSF SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Bryan Burns
President
888-723-3135
bburns@acsf.aero

GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE RENEWS ACSF SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP 

Alexandria, VA,  March 27, 2014 — The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) is pleased to recognize Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation for its continued sustaining membership. The company has shown its commitment to the foundation’s vision of enhancing and improving safety through its generous financial support.

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 2,200 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. The company employs more than 14,000 people at 12 major locations.

“Gulfstream is excited to continue to partner with the 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 continue as a sustaining member to further safety of air charter and fractional ownership flight operations.”

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

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

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“The vision of the ACSF is to enable on-demand charter providers and fractional program managers to achieve the highest levels of safety in the aviation industry. This goal will be achieved through:

  • Promotion of risk management programs,
  • The adoption of one common industry audit standard,
  • Dissemination of safety information and,
  • Creation of additional programs that advance the goals of the foundation.”

Paramount Signs Flight Dispatch Contract With AAR Airlift Group

Paramount Signs Flight Dispatch Contract With AAR Airlift Group

Contact: Nicole Buzynski Nicole.buzymski@paramountarg.com +1-540-737-4600

Paramount to provide dispatch and flight support for AAR Airlift’s global fleet.

Fredericksburg, Virginia – March 5, 2014 –Paramount Global Ferry & Flight Support, a division of Paramount Aviation Resources Group , a global provider of flight crew personnel and aircraft ferry and flight support services, has signed a contract with AAR Airlift Group to provide dispatch and flight support services to AAR’s fleet.

“We are excited to support AAR. We recognize that AAR has a global operation with a diverse fleet of aircraft that provide essential support to both civilian and military operations. Reliability is critical. Our global dispatch and flight services are a perfect match to provide the services to ensure that AAR Airlift’s crews have the information and support needed to safely complete each flight,” said Rick Wolfer, Paramount Global Ferry and Flight Support Division President.

“We are very pleased with the excellent service Paramount has provided AAR and look forward to their continued support for our future missions, ” said Jeffrey Wehrenberg, Chief Operating Officer, AAR Airlift Group. “AAR provides critical airlift support to government and military operations and has an impeccable safety record. We are confident that Paramount’s expertise and support will help us to maintain that record.”

Paramount Global Ferry and Flight Support has provided aircraft ferry and flight support services to aircraft operators throughout the world since 2008. In that time, Paramount has safely moved and supported hundreds of aircraft, including ATR, Airbus, Beechcraft, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault Aviation, Dornier, EADS CASA, Fokker, and many other types of aircraft to destinations throughout the world.

“Safety is Paramount in aviation. It’s no coincidence we integrated the word Paramount into our corporate name because it is how we operate,” said Michael W. Johnson, Paramount Aviation Resources Group President and CEO. “Our team works closely with each customer to ensure the crews have the information and support they need to safely and efficiently complete every flight.”

Paramount provides dispatch and flight support and aircraft ferry services throughout the world for any aircraft type. With an in-house global flight dispatch center, Paramount maintains direct contact with crews continuously regardless of their location.

About Paramount Global Ferry and Flight Support

Paramount Global Ferry and Flight Support is a division of Paramount Aviation Resources Group. Founded in 2007, Paramount Aviation Resources Group is quickly becoming the most-trusted provider of leased flight crew personnel and aircraft ferry services in the world. With a commitment to aviation safety, reducing operating costs, and providing impeccable service, Paramount Aviation Resources Group is helping air operators achieve long-term viability. Paramount Aviation Resources Group was formed by airline professionals with thousands of flight hours and decades of experience as line pilots, instructors, and managers at international Part 121 air carriers. Visit Paramount Aviation Resources Group on the web at www.paramountarg.com

 

About AAR Airlift Group

AAR Airlift Group provides expeditionary airlift services in support of contingency operations worldwide. The Company is based in Melbourne, FL, and operates a fleet of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft transporting personnel, supplies, and mail for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan and the Western Pacific. Visit AAR Airlift Group on the web at www.aarcorp.com/gov/airlift

 

NBAA Safety Committee Identifies Top Safety Focus Areas for 2014

NBAA Press Release

Washington, DC, March 5, 2014

For the second consecutive year, the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA’s) Safety Committee has published a list of recommended safety priorities for the business aviation industry. The list is intended to promote safety-focused discussion and advocacy among NBAA Members and the business aviation industry.

The list of NBAA Top Safety Focus Areas for 2014 is (in no particular order):

  • Professionalism
  • Positive Safety Culture
  • Single-Pilot Safety
  • Fitness for Duty
  • Airport Safety
  • Airmanship Skills
  • Distraction Management
  • Public Policy
  • Talent Pipeline
  • Technology Management

The committee developed the list with input from many of NBAA’s other standing committees, as well as from the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Flight Safety Foundation’s Business Advisory Committee and regional business aviation groups.

The list is first intended to serve as a conversation starter. “We want to start having discussions in our various spheres of influence on what each of these topics means on a personal basis,” said NBAA Safety Committee Chairman Eric Barfield. “But perhaps more importantly, we want to provoke a meaningful discussion among colleagues within the flight department and with the corporate office. It’s a conversation that goes both up and down the chain of command.”

The list also will serve to guide the Safety Committee’s work in support of safety advocacy for the year to come, providing a useful framework for developing future NBAA resources and education efforts in the coming months.

“Sometimes people don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to business aviation safety,” Barfield said. “We’re trying to educate them on those areas, as well as point out tools to help them continuously improve their safety processes and outcomes.”

First published in 2013 under the moniker “Top 10 Safety Focus Areas,” this year’s list was renamed to recognize the diversity within business aviation and give equal weight to all items listed. “This is no longer a prioritized list of concerns. Everybody has different priorities,” said Barfield. “Instead, these are key areas where the committee believes more discussion is warranted.”

The 2014 topics themselves are largely unchanged from 2013. Where changes to the list were introduced, they typically served to enhance or expand on topics and focus area descriptions from the previous year.

For example, “fatigue” is now aligned under a larger “fitness for duty” umbrella along with aeromedical issues and the growing concern with improper use of over-the-counter medications. ”Distraction management” is a new topic encompassing not only task saturation and situational awareness, but also distractions created by pressures stemming from the home and office. “Airmanship skills” and “airport safety” remain on the list, but have been expanded in scope.

Review NBAA’s Top Safety Focus Areas.
Learn more about the NBAA Safety Committee.

Civil Aviation Authority Safety Review for Offshore Rotor Operations

In September 2013, following a number of incidents involving offshore helicopter operations, the UK CAA, in conjunction with EASA and the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority, conducted a safety review. The review examined the risks and hazards of operating in the North Sea and considered how these could be managed more effectively.

This comprehensive analysis of North Sea helicopter operations and safety performance proposes a series of actions and makes a number of important recommendations for the industry. The focus is now on managing the changes arising from the report in a considered and systematic way.

Although focused on oil and gas operations in the North Sea, the Review has indirect relevance for offshore Search and Rescue (SAR) too and will arguably be of interest to other offshore oil and gas locations around the world.

The Review contains 32 Actions which the UK CAA have committed to but more widely 29 Recommendations. Of these, 13 are to EASA, 12 to the Helicopter Industry (AOC Holders, MROs, ATOs and manufacturers), 3 to the oil and gas industry and one collectively to all three of these

Read the full report

ACSF and ARGUS International Collaborate to Offer Two Results with One Combined Audit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Bryan Burns
President
888-723-3135
bburns@acsf.aero

ACSF and ARGUS International Collaborate to Offer Two Results with One Combined Audit 

Alexandria, VA,  March 4, 2014 — The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) and ARGUS International, Inc. have been working together to offer the charter and fractional ownership industry a single audit combining both the ACSF Industry Audit Standard (IAS) and the ARGUS Platinum Standard. Both the ACSF and ARGUS are pleased to announce they have reached an agreement in principle.

In the near future, ARGUS will offer an Industry Audit Standard (IAS) module as an add-on to its proprietary Platinum Audit Standard. The IAS module will contain operational requirements that have been extracted from best practices used by the FAR Part 121 community and have applicability to the Parts 135 and 91K marketplace. Operators that successfully complete the audit performed against the Platinum standard, including the IAS module, will receive the ARGUS Platinum rating and be added to the ACSF registry.

Both ACSF and ARGUS believe this will be a win-win relationship for the Charter and Fractional operators as they work together to reduce operational risk and redundant workload associated with multiple audits. The two standards will mesh well together as the ARGUS Platinum standard has become the most recognized symbol of an operator’s overall quality to charter buyers around the world, and the IAS is focused on operational and maintenance initiatives that are applied and refined in an effort to assist the commercial business aviation marketplace in achieving safety metrics found in the U.S. Air Carrier marketplace.

ACSF Chairman Jeff Baum said, “The Air Charter Safety Foundation IAS recognized that the scheduled airline community, in part through the use of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and FAR Part 121, has demonstrated the best safety record in the aviation industry. ACSF Accreditation recognizes a Part 135 operator or Fractional Manager that is utilizing many policies and procedures common to their Part 121 counterparts to further enhance their overall Safety Management System.”

“It is through a cooperative effort and shared mission of safety, that the Air Charter Safety Foundation and ARGUS have been able to bring this program to the marketplace through a single on-site audit event, thereby accomplishing an objective core to the mission statement of the ACSF,” noted Baum.

“ARGUS Platinum has for years now, represented the most sought after rating by charter consumers around the world,” said Joe Moeggenberg, President and CEO of ARGUS. “Yet we recognize that some operators require or desire compliance with other standards, yet dread the thought of the time and money associated with multiple audit events. ARGUS is very pleased to cooperate with the ACSF on their Industry Audit Standard (IAS) initiative, and happy to once again uniquely offer the marketplace the ability to perform one audit event with an outcome pertinent to both Platinum and ACSF requirements.”

“This will represent a significant decrease in both time and cost for each participating charter company, without any compromise to either standard or actual audit,” added Moeggenberg.

WestJet Selects TechPubs

WestJet Selects TechPubs:

5 of the top 10 Airlines in North America Now A Customer of TechPubs Global

TechPubs Global, Longmont, CO January 22nd, 2014; TechPubs Global is pleased to announce its newest client, WestJet.  WestJet is one of five of the Top Ten North American airlines to select TechPubs’ TechSuite solution for their comprehensive technical publications and compliance management requirements in the past eight months.

With this award, TechPubs Global‘s TechSuite solution has become the preferred airline content management solution in Canada.  Version 4.4 of the TechSuite solution has been released, and will be implemented at WestJet over the next few months.

Click here to find more information on how TechSuite version 4.4 can help airlines, like WestJet, efficiently manage their manuals and regulatory compliance.

Finland’s transport regulator increases efficiency and improves reporting times to ECCAIRS

Finland’s transport regulator increases efficiency and improves reporting times to ECCAIRS

TraFiThe Traffic Analysis department of the Finnish Transport Safety Agency (TraFi) is involved in the collection and analysis of safety and environment information regarding Finland’s transport system. As part of their reporting obligations, the regulator is required to submit both accident and incident reports to the European Co-ordination Centre for Accident and Incident Reporting Systems (ECCAIRS).

However, cialis after recording high and continuously increasing aviation occurrence reports, mainly down to their limited resources, the regulator identified a need to increase the efficiency of their occurrence management process, improving reporting times to ECCAIRS.

Ossi Kasurinen, TraFi’s Safety Information Adviser, said: “Saving occurrence reports manually into ECCAIRS database requires a lot of work and was extremely labor intensive at times, especially as we have limited resource in which to do it. We required a solution that would help us to streamline our occurrence report management process as well as feed the ECCAIRS database more efficiently.”

TraFi develops safety of the transport system across Finland, promoting environmentally friendly transport solutions. It is responsible for transport system regulatory duties across the four main transport sectors of air, rail, land and sea, and so it was crucial they found a solution which would improve their occurrence management and analysis processes.

With Ideagen Gael’s Q-Pulse solution, TraFi benefit from a fully integrated safety occurrence reporting and incident management solution, allowing their aviation community to raise occurrences in multiple formats before being processed directly into Q-Pulse.

The regulator also use Q-Pulse for their safety data management and enjoy seamless and automated integration with the ECCAIRS database which has streamlined their previous manual processes to provide more effective safety oversight of Finnish Civil and General Aviation.

Ossi added: “Q-Pulse is customizable and makes it possible to import and export data from and to other systems, cutting down the manual process dramatically. As our data is stored in Q-Pulse, we will be able to analyses it using the solution and, as the solutions is used by a few of our aviation customers, there may be possibilities that we can experience some synergy benefits in data transfer also.”

“Our Q-Pulse solution has completely taken over our day-to-day operations in regards to managing safety and environment information. As well as receiving multiple occurrence reports from varying systems, we can manage and classify these reports before easily exporting them into ECCAIRS. It has helped us improve overall occurrence management – and the solution’s analysis functionality will help us fulfill our duties despite the limited resources that we have.”