Worst Best Practices in Business Aviation

In business aviation, we often use the term "best practices" to refer to the level we should reach in our operations, but if you think about it, the phrase is an oxymoron.

An oxymoron is a word that, when combined, creates contradictory ideas to create one thought-provoking expression. It highlights a paradox, revealing a more profound truth, so the juxtaposition of "best" while at the same time "practice" implies that it's not the best yet. Otherwise, it would become a rule, but it's all we’ve got for now.

In business aviation, practices can vary significantly across different operations and situations. What may be considered the "best" approach in one scenario might not be practical or appropriate in another. This inherent subjectivity and variability in practices mean there is no single "best" way to do things, despite the term.

Best Practices in SMS

Now, let's apply best practices to the new Safety Management System (SMS) mandate. While "safety" typically implies a proactive approach to eliminating, reducing, or mitigating risks associated with accidents and incidents, "best practices" suggest a one-size-fits-all solution that can overlook different organizations' unique challenges.

A company's vision statement, required in an SMS, might boldly assert an unwavering commitment to enhancing safety in business aviation, a sector where safety is not merely a guideline but a fundamental expectation of those we transport. However, in striving for safety, the implementation might fall short of the lofty ideals. It's not just about saying you're safe; it's about creating a reflexively safer thought process for everyone at the company, even when thousands of miles away from home base when no one is looking.

Elements of Safety

The elements of an authentic safety culture can be documented, yet their execution can be self-contradictory. For instance, top management's advertised commitment to safety should foster a pervasive safety culture, but in practice, it can devolve into mere lip service when the pressure is on, and pilots are asked to ride the edge of the rules to complete a mission. It creates an environment where safe practices feel optional, depending on how much the customer pays or puts pressure on the crew.

Quality, standardized equipment, and transparent operating procedures are critical, yet even with these in place, organizations may still experience lapses. The idea of non-retribution for reporting incidents is noble, but we all know that nothing is really "anonymous," so the fear of repercussions can stifle honesty. Retraining should be embraced without penalty, yet it often carries an unspoken stigma.

Best practices in business aviation encompass various strategies and procedures to ensure safety, efficiency, and compliance. Here are some essential best practices and their associated worst practice:

• Safety Management Systems (SMS): Implementing a robust SMS to identify and mitigate risks associated with flight operations proactively.
  • Worst Practice: Using a generic SMS that is not customized to your specific operations and never updating it. Even if your flight department only has two pilots, there are still processes and procedures that work better for you, and as your flight department gains experience, the SMS should change, too. It doesn't have to be complex; just be thoughtful about how to mitigate your specific risks. Thousands of variables. For example, do you fly out of a high-elevation airport? Is your Second-In-Command (SIC) low time? New to the aircraft? Winter Operations? Short runway home base? Night operations? How will you mitigate the specific risks you're exposed to?
• Regular Training and Certification: Ensuring all personnel, including pilots and maintenance crew, undergo continuous training and maintain up-to-date certifications.
  • Worst Practice: Checking the boxes. No one thinks they need recurrent training, so make sure what people see every year differs. Repeating the same training creates a barrier to learning. Instead, use scenario-based examples and let your employees decide how to make the operation safer. This can make it more efficient and peripherally increase the bottom line on the spreadsheet. It can pay to have well-trained employees!
• Maintenance and Inspections: Adhering to rigorous maintenance schedules and inspections to ensure aircraft are in optimal condition.
  • Worst Practice: Always choose the lowest quote. With supply chain issues and labor shortages, flight departments can get stuck in a rut with subpar MROs who capture customers by just being cheaper, not better. Proactively research and find the MROs that are expanding. It's sometimes worth flying across the country for scheduled maintenance to reduce future AOG events.
• Flight Planning and Fuel Efficiency: Utilizing advanced flight planning tools to optimize routes for fuel efficiency and operational effectiveness.
  • Worst Practice: Dispatchers/flight coordination/schedulers hold so much power, yet they're often not trained on SMS. For example, they could decide to tanker fuel because it's cheaper at home base, without considering all the variables. They might not have safety margins or risk mitigation in their mindset. Maybe a flight is planned before the rain or snow moves in, and now that aircraft is operating on a contaminated runway at max gross weight. It's cheaper on paper, but at what potential cost?
• Regulatory Compliance: Staying informed about and compliant with all relevant aviation regulations and standards set by governing bodies like the FAA or EASA.
  • Worst Practice: Using an eLearning provider that doesn't update the courseware. Rules and standards constantly change, but only Advanced Aircrew Academy updates its courseware weekly by subject matter experts who work in business aviation.
• Crew Resource Management (CRM): Promoting teamwork and communication among crewmembers to enhance decision-making and safety.
  • Worst Practice: With pilot staffing challenges, you think twice about letting a lousy pilot go. With packed schedules and a slim pilot roster, employers are more willing to tolerate bad attitudes and behaviors. It's hard, but bad attitudes are contagious and can bring down the entire safety culture of even the most prominent organizations.
• Effective Communication: Establishing clear communication protocols among all stakeholders, including flight crews, ground staff, and passengers.
  • Worst Practice: Having constant safety meetings, pulling people in on their days off for safety summits, and making employees spend hours reading safety memos. It's the opposite of safe. Consolidate, make it relevant and interesting, and reward safety rather than use the stick to force it.
• Passenger Experience Enhancement: Focusing on customer service and comfort to ensure a positive experience for passengers.
  • Worst Practice: Letting passengers put pressure on flight crews for anything. From turning a blind eye to marijuana use in the passenger cabin to nudging a departure despite the weather to asking pilots to find complex catering items before departure from small-town airports, sometimes pleasing a customer puts pilots in an uncomfortable situation, having to tell a paying passenger no.  Ensure passengers understand the rules and let flight coordinators be the bad cop.
• Data Analytics: Leveraging data analytics to track performance metrics, improve operational efficiency, and inform decision-making.
  • Worst Practice: Not using data analytics or sharing information with the industry.  Sharing the data makes the entire industry safer. From busted SIDS (think Teterboro) to consistent failure of a specific part or component, sharing the date is imperative.
• Sustainability Initiatives: Implementing practices to reduce the environmental impact, such as using sustainable aviation fuels or optimizing flight operations to minimize emissions.
  • Worst Practice: Ignoring the activity of eco-protestors who like to spray orange paint. They often post where they'll be next, so it's worth keeping an eye on it.

Organizations must resist the temptation to adopt blanket policies even if they're "best practices." The challenge lies in transforming the concept of best practices into actionable, context-sensitive strategies that genuinely elevate safety culture rather than merely checking off boxes.

Advanced Aircrew Academy's SMS eLearning module is designed to introduce an overview of the SMS concept and how an SMS can enhance safety in a flight operation. The module is organized around the four core elements of the SMS: Policy, Risk Management, Assurance, and Promotion. It provides web links, background, references, and examples. This training is appropriate for all flight operations personnel, not just aircrews. The SMS module can be customized to your organization and SMS.

Versions of the SMS module for Safety Managers, Pilots, Flight/Cabin Attendants, Schedulers/Dispatchers, Line Service, and Admin are available. The module can be used for one hour of credit towards IA Renewal. FAA Course Acceptance Number: C-IND-IM-160330-K-006-002.

The NBAA Management Guide (section 2.4) recommends advanced flight crew training above and beyond the FAA's regulatory requirements as a best practice. That recommendation specifically cites Safety Management System training. This training module satisfies the NBAA recommendation.

The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) has accepted the SMS for Safety Managers module to meet the IS-BAO/IS-BAH auditor training requirements for "completion of an SMS training course," as defined in the appendix to the Audit Procedures Manual.

Best Practice: Contact Advanced Aircrew Academy at info@aircrewacademy.com to get started!