Is SMS the key to developing international VLJ training best practices?
SMS has become the latest buzz-term in a long list of safety improvement concepts. Part of SMS is the requirement for 3rd party audits to ensure that risk mitigation activities that are part of a specific program are accomplishing their objectives. Training is identified as a risk mitigation activity. We know that there have been some excellent contributions to ensuring operational safety suggested by NBAA and GAMA but they are unfortunately simply suggestions and not regulations. Eclipse tried to enforce its training requirements with an AFM restriction but most people just yawned. It is beginning to appear that many of the VLJ training guidelines, including mentoring, are perceived by the marketplace as unenforceable and not applicable on an individual basis. It has been suggested by some of our discussion group members that manufacturers should include pilot transition training in their SMS program and that the mentor be formally defined as a 3rd party auditor for the purpose of val
