Air Charter Safety Foundation Updates its Industry Audit Standard to Comply with New SMS Regulations

New aviation safety regulations indicate that, by the end of 2022, air charter companies must initiate a safety management system (SMS) appropriate to the size, scope and complexity of the companies’ operations. To help air charter operators comply with this new ruling, the Air Charter Safety Foundation (acsf.aero), a nonprofit aviation organization dedicated to providing economical aviation safety-related tools and programs, has updated its ACSF Industry Audit Standard (IAS).

The new Industry Audit Standard content ensures that Part 135 operators meet the new requirements from the FAA’s Federal Aviation Regulation 14 CFR Part 5, as well as the International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 19. The IAS is also available to Part 91 aviation organizations that are interested in going above and beyond the minimum audit standards.

To help operators prepare for the IAS, the ACSF emphasizes the need to complete a pre-audit checklist and conduct a full gap analysis for every item in the standard.

Burns was pleased to announce that the Foundation’s first member company to complete the new ACSF Industry Audit Standard was L.J. Aviation. The Pennsylvania-based company conducted its external audit with assistance from ACSF-accredited third-party auditors Amanda Ferraro, CAM, and Marta Maiden, of Aviation Safety Solutions.

To learn more about the ACSF and the Industry Audit Standard, visit acsf.aero/audit