The FAA requires that Part 135 and some Part 91 operators implement safety management systems (SMS) by May 2027. BCA Senior Editor Bill Carey discusses the industry’s progress toward meeting the new SMS mandate with Jenny Ann Urban, vice president of regulatory affairs with the National Air Transportation Association.
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Transcript
Bill Carey: Hello and welcome to the BCA Podcast by Aviation Week Network. I'm Bill Carey, Senior Editor with Business and Commercial Aviation. Now speaking today with Jenny Ann Urban Vice President of Regulatory Affairs with the National Air Transportation Association or NATA on the implementation of Safety Management Systems, which we'll call SMS. And the FAA now requires SMS for part 135 and some part 91 operators. Thank you, Jenny, for speaking with us today.
Jenny Ann Urban: Thank you so much for having me.
Bill Carey: So the NATA held an informational meeting about safety management systems back in February. Could you recap for us what the FAA now requires of part 135 operators in the new part five SMS final regulation that it released last April?
Jenny Ann Urban: Absolutely. So we are all about ensuring that the industry is safe, and that was one of the reasons that we held the SMS roundup. Again, safety management system, SMS as we'll be going for it. As you mentioned, roundup was to really allow information sharing between the different operators. They see these regulations, which I'll go over in just a second, but how do you actually implement those and not just check the box. As an attorney by trade, you don't want to just hire an attorney to sign the different documents and say you have it. You really want to make sure that you are implementing this SMS to ensure a safe operation and encourage safety throughout the industry. So that, as you stated, the new part five SMS final rule came out and it was to implement a proactive safety management system for these 135 operators.
As you mentioned, there still is some with the part 91s, the full compliance deadline is May 28, 2027, which we here, it's still quite a bit away, I guess two years and two months if my math is correct. But we are encouraging the operators to not wait until that final day to try and get in compliance. So with this, what they need to have done is they have to have developed, implemented, and maintained a formal risk-based SMS program. Some components of that would be hazard identification, risk management, safety, performance monitoring, and you want to continually do this. You don't want to be identifying hazards and then solutions, but never reevaluating if those solutions are working. So it's a continual ongoing process.
You also want to make sure that you're tailoring your SMS to your specific operations. So we encourage a conditioned based approach that those conditions can be, are you a large operator, small operator, are you domestic, international, are you all based in one hub or do you have hubs across the country? And really making it scalable to the organization. There is not a one size fits all, and that was one of the big things that the FAA pushed when coming out with this world. They didn't want to state exactly how to do it. They wanted to state the requirements around it and let the operators tell them how to get to, yes.
The one requirement, the key requirement is that the operators will have to submit a declaration of compliance and my big caveat to operators here is don't submit that declaration of compliance till you've developed, implemented, and maintained your SMS. It's not the start of the process. That is the final piece of the process. And that is a formal declaration to the FAA confirming that your SMS meets all these requirements. So as soon as you submit that you've entered into a regulatory environment. So they're not going to wait until May 28, 2027 likely to audit you if you've already put this in place. If I submit that today, they could come out tomorrow and say, "Let me see the operations and let me see that your SMS is compliant with these new restrictions." So we're very much encouraging the declaration of compliance. You don't want to wait until last minute, but make sure that is the end of your process, not the beginning.
Bill Carey: You mentioned that the compliance date or the date that the regulation becomes effective is May 2027. I think the FAA allowed for 36 months from the time it released the regulation. Originally it was pushing for 24 months, but I think the industry was able to get the FAA to amend that. But I think there's something on the order of a couple thousand part 135 operators in the United States. What is the industry's progress toward meeting that compliance state to implement safety management systems?
Jenny Ann Urban: To answer your question, many larger operators, especially those that were already enrolled in the FAA's voluntary SMS program, have implemented many of the required elements. Many have also filed their statement, their declarations of compliance. That is not to say that smaller operators have not, there is smaller operators that have been able to implement this and that already participated in implementing an SMS prior to the requirements being in place. But they do face challenges such as limited resources, different expertise in regards to the technicalities. But that's why we had the information sharing because you want to be able to learn from each other. And Ashley Smith, president of Jet Logistics said at our information sharing event, he stated, "Safety is not a competition," and that is really key to these parts.
So we really want the information sharing. There's no reason to hold it back. Because as the industry becomes safer, that's better for all the operators. And then to address the different timelines, as you mentioned, it is 36 months, so that is the May 28, 2027 date. But there is quite a few applicants in the certification process at the moment. And so applicants that were in the initial certification phase prior to May 28, 2024, so when the rule was going into place, they have the same deadline of the 36th month that they must have it in place by May 28, 2027.
However, new applications for certification that are submitted after May 28, 2024, their SMS must be developed and implemented upon their certification date. So there's a little bit of timelines, and that also applies to any applications that were in the pre-application phase prior to May 28, 2024 that they must have it developed and implemented upon certification.
Bill Carey: You touched on this, but right-sizing this regulation to smaller operators is one of the big issues in the notice of proposed rulemaking phase of this new regulation. Because this essentially is imposing a regulation on the industry that's been required of airlines since 2018, I believe. So you're kind of transitioning airline-style regulation to smaller operators. What were some of the specific issues and challenges that part 135 operators raised during the Roundup meeting that NATA hosted?
Jenny Ann Urban: Absolutely. So I think sometimes you hear SMS and it can get overwhelming. You also hear that there's a new rule and that's overwhelming for all sizes of operations, but especially small operators that have less resources. So one of the key things that they wanted to understand is what were the four components of an SMS? The four components are first, safety policy, second, safety assurance, third, safety risk management, and fourth, safety promotion. So understanding the basic components.
But I think what was key and during the information session that they were able to engage with the FAA and the FAA continually explained that they're not telling them how to implement the SMS. They're just telling them that they need to have an SMS in place covering these four components and that it needs to be based it can utilize... Or the FAA didn't say this. But our recommendation is utilizing a condition-based approach. So making it scalable to your type of operation.
Someone that is a 135, very small operator is going to have a much different SMS program than a large operator. But also some of the information shared was that you don't need to make it difficult. One of the operators shared that they would identify the hazards and they would put them on an Excel spreadsheet, and so that was how they would end up going about and tracking it. There is great different tools that NATA has. We partnered with a few different programs in our partner plus that offer some SMS programs, but also, and I highly encourage users go look at those, and those will really help with the SMS, but also don't let this rule get overwhelming. So I think that that was one of the challenges. I would say that also the resource constraints, financial and time investments, making sure that your team is trained on SMS and also remembering that you could all utilize the management systems you already have in place to make a safety management system.
So in integrating that with the other management systems you have in place was an understanding piece of it. They also wanted to understand how to comply and how they were going to be inspected, but I think that within the information sharing, they've been able to learn a lot from each other. I would say a key topic within the information sharing was safety culture and getting safety buy-in from leadership, making sure that it's a top-down approach that the CEO or president of the operator really is on board and understanding the importance of an SMS system and creating that safety culture around reporting incidents or hazards in order to identify the risks and then be able to mitigate them properly without the fear of losing their job because they pointed something out.
Bill Carey: Some part 135 operators had participated in the FAA's voluntary SMS program. I'm curious as to whether they can easily convert the elements of the SMS voluntary program to the regulatory SMS program.
Jenny Ann Urban: Absolutely. So a significant number of the larger 135 operators had enrolled in the FAA's voluntary SMS program, which is great. That really sets them up for success. But a caveat I have is don't assume just because you did the voluntary SMS program that you are good to go. You definitely need to look at the new frameworks and the requirements, but utilizing what you already have in place can easily be adapted to comply with these new requirements and targeted modifications of it. And so those that were in the voluntary program have been encouraged to go back, reevaluate, look at the requirements, but don't just throw the baby out with the bathwater. Ensure that you really are utilizing what you already have in place and making it even better if it meets these requirements.
Bill Carey: Now, the FAA has been much in the news lately and not necessarily for the right reasons. There's a new administrator, I'm sorry, a new administration and an acting FAA administrator. Given some of this, I won't say turmoil, that might be too strong a word, but how has the FAA preparing for operators to implement safety management systems?
Jenny Ann Urban: Yes, so there is, as you stated, there has been a change in different actions. We were very, very fortunate to be able to see that the FAA acting Administrator, Rocheleau, is committed to safety and having his team members committed to safety. So that was really great. We were very appreciative that we had three members from the FAA join us at the information sharing event. We didn't know if they were going to be able to come, but they were able to come. And one of the key things of how they're preparing is they're listening to the industry. They're engaging with us at these types of events. We would continue to encourage this going forward because not only was the FAA able to engage directly with the industry and answer the industry's questions, but they saw where there might be confusion within the regulations or where they might need to have more FAQs.
One thing that we are encouraging and that we would like to see the FAA do is bring some of their workforce, some of their inspectors, which they are invited. The information sharing event was a free event. So we would encourage the inspectors to come and listen to what's going on in the industry. We want to ensure that the inspectors are trained, keeping a level set countrywide on understanding that they're not the ones that setting up what the SMS's, but they're ensuring the compliance of the SMS, and that the operators can explain their operations and their SMS program to the inspectors and then the inspectors can see that they're compliant.
Bill Carey: Has NATA scheduled another roundup type meeting.
Jenny Ann Urban: So we have not scheduled yet the next information sharing one. We will have another one and it will be coming up and we will be continuing to do this and engage with the FAA on those portions. We see the importance of it. So we are looking for the next big spot, and I would encourage those to look at it. Our next big event is the Air Charter Summit coming up on May 22nd, where we will discuss safety as well. But we will continue to have more of these information sharing events going forward.
Bill Carey: Okay. Okay. Thank you. I thought we should inform our audience of that. The FAA hosted a general, what they call, the general and business aviation safety call to action. I think that was at FAA headquarters in Washington D.C. I'll note the media was not invited to that event, but could you tell us, Jenny Ann, was SMS discussed during this call to action and what suggestions came from that session?
Jenny Ann Urban: Yes, it was. I actually was fortunate to co-moderate this safety management session, with the acting Executive Director of Flight standards, Rob Ruiz. The purpose of this was to engage those in attendance to see what we could do to manage safety better. What tangible steps can the FAA be taking and the industry be taking? And so one of the key things that I emphasized was that the FAA needs to continue to work with Part 135 operators and air two operators to help them implement the SMS to meet the requirements, but also answering the questions, continuing to engage and learn from each other was very key, and that it was encouraged that they continue to engage in these different industry events.
But also, we really talked about SMS, but also just managing safety as a whole. Is it a formalized decision-making process to prioritize safety, ensuring, as I've said before, scalability, making sure that you're not just taking someone else's SMS program and putting it into place when it might not fit the conditions of your operation. So really looking at it like that. And then encouraging the engagement and information sharing with industry members as well. So that's from operator to operator so that we can all learn and mitigate the hazards together to ensure safety going forward.
Bill Carey: Well, okay, I've run through my questions. I certainly have faith in the industry following through on its commitments, and we'll wait and see how the government performs in that relationship. But thanks again, Jenny Anne for speaking with us today. And I'd like to thank our audience for listening to the BCA Podcast by Aviation Week Network.
Jeremy Kariuki: Thanks for listening to the BCA Podcast by Aviation Week Network. This week's episode was produced by Jeremy Karaoke. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to or follow us on your podcast app of choice. If you'd like to support us, please leave a rating wherever you listen. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.
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