US Marines Corps officials have identified the five men who died in a helicopter crash earlier this week as they were flying back to California from a training excursion just outside of Las Vegas.
(Photo: David McIntosh)
A few months after FAA Administrator Steve Dickson outlined plans to release regulations requiring safety management systems (SMS) for Part 135 charter and 145 repair station operations next year, the FAA is said to be “far along” in this rulemaking effort. The question is, though, are the vast and varied numbers of Part 135/145 operators ready for it.
While the FAA released a regulation in 2015 requiring Part 121 scheduled carriers to implement SMS, the agency has long encouraged other operations to voluntarily adopt such programs. To that end, the agency has had a voluntary program in place to help facilitate the implementation of SMS programs. That is just one pathway to an SMS program for operations. A number of companies specializing in aviation safety have developed detailed software to help organizations implement their own SMS. In addition, one of the leading-recognized international safety programs, IS-BAO, incorporates SMS as a foundation.