"Sure, we're safe ― we look after each other." With this simple statement, most small flight departments define their entire safety program. What could be more simple ― one aircraft, a well-defined mission and two pilots looking after one another? But, is this safe enough? Safety is an attitude, a state of being, a mind-set. It is something we must live every minute of every day or eventually be claimed by an accident or incident. How do we achieve that desired state? Over time we have found that a structure is needed to promote and foster the concept of safety within organizations. Without structure most people revert to more comfortable and familiar ways of doing business. Yet, comfortable does not always equate to safe. Therefore, big or small, some framework for safety helps the process. First, what constitutes a small flight department? Experience has shown that numbers of aircraft, bases, or people are not the real determining factor. Like safety, department size is a state of mind. Some well-staffed departments operating three of four turbine-powered aircraft from multiple bases consider themselves small. Yet, a minimally-manned single Boeing 757 operation does not consider itself small. However, since certain advantages accrue to small organizations―flexibility, speed, agility―the designation is certainly not a pejorative one. For a single King Air operator with two pilot-technicians, devising a safety program is a daunting task. The demands of meeting the flight schedule, paying bills, keeping the beast airworthy and getting trained require at least 150 percent of the available work week. To develop something extra like a safety program may appear out of the question.
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