“What do the customers — the people who are paying for aviation services — want?” said Robert Sumwalt, member, U.S. National Transportation Board (NTSB), speaking at the 56th annual Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar (CASS) at San Diego in April. “Do they want substandard performance, just meeting regulations, cutting corners? Or do you think they want best practices, where you’re talking and implementing quality?
“The next question is, what are they getting? By definition, if you do not have written standard operating procedures [SOPs] and if you don’t insist that people follow them, you are no higher than basic regulatory compliance. To be at best practices, an operator adopts and implements quality, standards, procedures, equipment, and training above and beyond regulatory requirements.”
In his presentation, which included reviewing accidents of special interest to corporate operators since the 2010 CASS, Sumwalt emphasized the connection between best practice…
