Constant Aviation got FAA Safety Management System Certification

Constant Aviation announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has accepted its fully functional SMS as being in “Active Conformance” with the FAA’s Part 5 Voluntary Safety Management System (SMS) Program, the final step in the SMS process. The certification ranks Constant Aviation among the leaders nationally in business aviation maintenance safety and risk mitigation. Constant Aviation becomes only the fourth MRO out of the more than 4,500 maintenance organizations nationally and the first independent business jet MRO Part 145 Repair Station to achieve this designation. 

“We are proud that the FAA has certified Constant Aviation as being in active conformance with the Part 5 Voluntary Safety Management System Program,” said David Davies, Constant Aviation CEO. “This certification is a rare honor, earned by the dedicated men and women of our team and reflective of our commitment to the highest standards of safety for our staff and for those who fly on the aircraft we service.”

While FAA acceptance of Constant’s SMS program is complete, the company has been operating under these processes for the last year and has seen significant improvements. Year over year, the company has reduced incident severity and workplace injuries by over 55 percent. In addition, the company has experienced a reduction in incident costs of over 200 percent and a direct cost savings of over $250,000.

“Implementation of SMS across our entire network has revolutionized how we approach safety,” said Kent Stauffer, Constant Aviation Vice President of Quality, Safety and Training. “Involvement in risk mitigation on this level allows us to anticipate where we will see hazards, furthering our ability to prevent those hazards from becoming safety incidents. That reduces incidents and incident severity, prevents injuries and reduces costs. We are especially proud of the fact that we’ve accomplished this completely in-house with our own personnel, which has resulted in maximum buy-in, customization and ownership.”

SMS data have been kept by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) since 1997 and show that these programs help mitigate risk. As a result, SMS has become the standard for safety programs in aviation worldwide; while they are optional for MROs such as Constant Aviation, both domestic customers and foreign certificate holders increasingly request them.

The FAA Part 5 SMS Program, established in 2015, provides aviation organizations with systematic procedures, practices and policies to manage safety risk. Constant Aviation has progressed through the program’s three levels – Active Applicant, Active Participant and, now, Active Conformant.

“Constant Aviation’s philosophy is ‘Quality. Always.” And our safety program is no exception,” said Timothy Wade, Constant Aviation Director of Environmental Health and Safety. “Our safety program must meet the same high standards of quality we demand in everything we do and the full certification for SMS by the FAA reflects our team’s commitment to ensuring that we have one of the nation’s leading aviation maintenance safety programs.”