An SMS Deal Too Good to Refuse HAI’s program lets operators, maintenance organizations elevate safety effectively, affordably.
IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME, say aviation safety specialists, until the FAA requires all aircraft operators to have an SMS program in place. But setting one up can seem overwhelming. A review of FAA Advisory Circular 120–92b and ICAO Document 9859, with their dense technical jargon and mazes of flowcharts, makes it easy to see why an operator might give up on an SMS. Yet, safety organizations and civil aviation authorities around the world recommend that aircraft operators and aviation maintenance organizations should treat safety management as an essential operational function. That’s why HAI
back: HAI members will receive the same software solutions offered to other customers, notes Chris Hill, HAI’s senior director of safety and manager of HAI’s SMS Program. “All four providers are well-known and respected in the aviation industry and highly regarded by insurers,” Hill says. Because helicopter flight generally
HAI SMS Providers
Starke, Baldwin Aviation’s director of safety and product development. “SMS is now a global standard.” Starke adds that good SMS software must adapt to the customer’s needs, not the other way around. In other words, it needs to be scalable and easy to use. “If it isn’t intuitive or you need to go through a million convoluted steps to submit a report, people won’t use it.” Bob Rufli, director
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created a member benefit to make the whole process easier for their operator and maintenance-provider members. “We asked our members what the most important service is that we could offer,” says HAI President and CEO James Viola. “The overwhelming answer was an SMS solution. Now, our members won’t have to try to build one from the bottom up.” After evaluating more than a dozen
prominent SMS software providers, HAI selected four organizations (see graphic, above) that offer the services that operators and maintenance providers, regardless of size, need to launch a quality, turnkey SMS. Despite the significant HAI member discounts the providers offer, their services aren’t scaled
24 ROTOR DECEMBER 2022
involves more manual, nonautomated operations than fixed-wing flying, vertical aviation potentially comes with more risk, making an SMS especially important in rotorcraft work, says Dan Cerkan, founder and CEO of Balefire Safety Systems. Cerkan cites as examples construction work in areas with limited landing options and the demands placed on air ambulance crews picking up patients off-site. Conversely, “typically an airplane takes off, climbs to altitude, and the autopilot takes over,” he says. And with SMS anticipated to become
a regulatory requirement for some operations, adopting one now will put your company ahead of competitors. “Don’t wait for the regulators, or you’ll be behind the curve,” advises Jason
of operations at the Air Charter Safety Foundation, agrees, citing simplicity and flexibility as major assets in a good software package: “Participation requires a system that’s straightforward, where anyone can file a report without log-ins or passwords.”
To encourage participation in the
program, there should be multiple ways to enter data, says Sonnie Bates, CEO of WYVERN Ltd. He cites as an example “having the ability for someone on the flight line to just speak into a phone for an entry so there’s no typing involved.”
In the end, an SMS just makes sense
for any aviation operation concerned about safety. “Every business has safety objectives, and an SMS program is simply a tool to help a business continually improve, continually focus, and continually get better,” says Ric Peri, VP of government and industry affairs for the Aircraft Electronics Association. “So please, don’t be afraid of SMS. Embrace it as a business tool to make your business better.”
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