Starting a Safety Management System Culture in Small Flight School Organizations

Small flight school organizations have unique cultures and challenges which are very different from larger air carrier and air charter organizations. In the modern, increasingly complex aviation environment, the rapid rate of evolution and change in technology, regulations, and operational considerations is driving aviation service providers to adopt the use of Safety Management Systems (SMS). A strong safety-oriented culture is needed to support the implementation of an SMS, however. This article studies the prerequisite safety culture challenge for small flight school organizations and makes recommendations on effective first steps for getting started with an SMS implementation initiative.