The worldwide implementation of safety management systems (SMSs) by aviation service providers signals a shift from traditional reactive and compliance-based oversight to a new model that includes proactive and performance-based tools and methods. Such a shift, however, introduces a parallel need for civil aviation authorities (CAAs) to perform their safety oversight functions in a similar way. This means accepting performance-based oversight (PBO) as the upcoming challenge in enforcing safety regulations.
Gian Andrea Bandieri, standardization team leader in the Approvals and Standardization Directorate of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), defines oversight as “the function by … which a state ensures implementation of aviation regulations, in order to ensure an adequate level of safety across the regulated industry.”
Compliance-based oversight (CBO) is built upon “the assumption that if an organization is fully compliant with the applicable safety requirements, th…
