New risk and safety management requirements imposed by the European Aviation Safety Agency are continuing to take up a lot of management time at TAG and other aircraft operators. TAG recently became the first business aviation company to achieve EASA’s stage-two requirements for its safety management system.

A desire to encourage a collective industry approach to safety led TAG to form the Corporate Aviation Safety Executive (Case), a voluntary group that now has some 60 members. This involves safety managers from various companies working together with representatives of aircraft manufacturers, the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the UK’s air traffic management agency, NATS.

One of the EASA requirements for SMS is that operators with large-cabin aircraft weighing more than 29 metric tons have to have quick-access recorders capable of instantly downloading operating flight data. The Case group is trying to make the flight data management requirement more meaningful by pooling data from its combined fleet of more than 300 aircraft. This has allowed members to identify significant safety trends.–C.A.