ICAO Has Imposed A November, 2010 Deadline For A Safety Management System

The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) Monday announced a new initiative to develop and deliver an Emergency Response Planning manual for business aircraft owners and operators based in Europe.

Scheduled to be available in December 2009 for use by EBAA members and all interested operators, the ERP manual will provide general guidance and procedures allowing Business Aviation Operators to develop their own Emergency Response Plan. Key subjects to be incorporated into the manual include: Media Response/Handling, Flight Operations, Engineering & Maintenance, Security, Finance, and Legal/Risk Management/Insurance.

“This is truly a collaborative industry effort that reflects our collective concern regarding the overall preparedness of business aircraft operators to deal effectively with an emergency situation,” stated Brian Humphries, President & CEO, EBAA. “For a variety of reasons, numerous operators neither current possess an ERP -- nor have the expertise to create an ERP – so our initiative is aimed at correcting this situation.”

EBAA expects to publish the ERP Manual almost a year before the November 2010 mandatory implementation deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for operators to establish a Safety Management System (SMS). “ERP plans are an essential element of every SMS program,” noted Mr. Humphries, “so the EBAA ERP manual will assist operators with meeting this regulatory requirement, while also raising the overall professionalism of their organizations.”

The ERP Manual is being produced by EBAA Member Gates Aviation LLP, together with Members of an ERP Steering Group comprising subject matter experts from: EBAA Executive, Gates and Partners LLP, Bombardier Aerospace, Flight Safety International, British Helicopter Association, ExecuJet Aviation Group, International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), Tyrolean Jet Services and Dassault Aviation.

In order to ensure that the ERP Manual includes comprehensive, practical and easy-to-use guidance material, EBAA also recently launched a digital survey to determine which key ERP issues concern Business Aviation Operators most, and to identify emergency response knowledge gaps and key vulnerabilities.

All Business Aviation Operators are invited to complete the survey, which can be accessed on the homepage of the EBAA website. Those who complete the survey will receive a copy of the results in order to help them benchmark their activities against others in the sector. Participants will also be among the first to be notified when the toolkit has been fully developed.

“The response rate to the survey is encouraging, and it appears as though business aviation operators are keen to provide valuable information that we need in order to develop a relevant and useful manual,” stated Mr. Humphries. “Their timely feedback, combined with the considerable knowledge and expertise provided by our steering committee should result in a superior ERP tool for business aviation operators across Europe.”

FMI: www.ebaa.org