South Carolina, US-based Baldwin Aviation has developed a safety management system (SMS) tailored to the owners and operators of light business aircraft.
Highly regarded by the US Federal Aviation Administration and business aviation advocacy groups, SMSs are structured programmes that allow operators and pilots to evaluate the risk of any given flight and track potential hazards.
Per International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, operators of business aircraft with a take-off weight of more than 5,700kg (12,500lb) must use an approved SMS, though the FAA has not yet mandated the practice.
Baldwin president and chief executive Don Baldwin said "numerous owners and operators" hadasked him to develop an SMS programme. "We created a standardised business operations manual that is the foundation for a typical one aircraft/one pilot operation safety management system," he said.
Along with the operations manual, operators get access to safety data from operators of similar aircraft, standardised Baldwin risk assessments and safety reports.
Baldwin is charging $500 for an initial assessment and a $125 per month flat fee for the service, called SMSace.
Source: Flight International
