LJ Aviation is first to complete the new IAS Audit registration to comply with new FAR Part 5 and ICAO Annex 19. New aviation safety regulations indicate that, by the end of 2022, air charter companies must initiate an 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, a nonprofit aviation organisation 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 organisations that are interested in going above and beyond the minimum audit standards.

In a recent auditor workshop held this past spring, the ACSF presented the revised audit standard documents, updated forms and audit report components. Bryan Burns, the Air Charter Safety Foundation's President, notes: “Now that many of our external auditors are aligned with the IAS revisions, and how to interpret the standards, our next step is to help educate our ACSF member companies on what will be required in the coming year. If a company doesn't have a SMS in place, the time to start is now, so we urge them to get in touch with us.”

To help operators prepare for the IAS, the ACSF emphasises 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 LJ 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.

Ferraro called the audit experience a success: “It was a wonderful experience, and went off without a hitch, in part because LJ Aviation already has a very robust SMS, but also because I received the manuals well in advance, which enabled me to complete a full gap analysis for the operator ahead of time. The pre-work is the single-best action, and one that's critical to any audit. That means I can spend my time onsite with the operator focusing on what they're doing right, and how they can do things even better.”