Hilton Head, SC — Baldwin Aviation Safety & Compliance, headquartered in Hilton Head, South Carolina, has begun offering a specially designed Safety Management System, RotorSMS, to helicopter operators, and it is already attracting significant attention from some major sources. The program has been reviewed and accepted by the United States Forest Service (USFS) which has added Baldwin Aviation Safety & Compliance to its list of recommended resources. “It is apparent that your company provides the level of safety that we would like for our service providers to implement. With that in mind…our operators will be encouraged to contact you directly for further information,” wrote R.G. “Ron” Hanks, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service’s Aviation Risk Management and Training Systems in a letter acknowledging his review of the Baldwin SMS.
The Forest Service has implemented an SMS approach to accident prevention and currently requires each contractor to develop and implement a safety system program. In an average season, the USFS employs over 300 aircraft in a variety of missions including firefighting, low-level reconnaissance, game surveys, law enforcement and other support missions for natural resources programs. Hanks estimates that USFS operations average more than 80,000 flight hours per year with a current average accident rate of 5.4 per 100,000 hours. “We believe that this rate can be lowered through a change in the aviation safety culture,” he added.
Baldwin Aviation Safety & Compliance has customized its core safety program, which was originally developed for smaller fixed wing flight operations, to fit the specific needs of the helicopter community. “Our RotorSMS program incorporates tools similar to those we use in our basic program, tailored to rotary wing operators,” explained Don Baldwin, president of Baldwin Aviation Safety & Compliance. “Subscribers to RotorSMS enjoy the benefits of saving time and money, including favorable consideration for insurance premium reductions and resource discounts…and they’re able to meet contractor requirements like those of the U.S. Forest Service. The beauty of our program is that we can have our clients up and running in just a few days,” he added.
The RotorSMS program is a comprehensive, cutting-edge safety program with online delivery that includes a tailored Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and Operations Manual, forms and reports, safety tracking system, and e-Surveys. It provides timely delivery of Operational Messages, automatic notification of changes and updates to Operations Manual and the ERP, and advanced notice of regulatory changes. It also simplifies compliance to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and IS-BAO regulations, standards, and practices. Baldwin further explained, “We’ve developed the program in collaboration with key insurance industry leaders and experienced operators and flight department veterans and we work closely with our clients to implement and maintain the SMS standards.”
Baldwin, who headed both the Texaco and Coca Cola flight departments and is a former chairman of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Board of Directors, leads a highly experienced staff of experts who have combined their expertise to develop Safety Management Systems that are based on proven techniques, established resources, and consistent monitoring of client operations.
Headquartered on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Baldwin Aviation Safety and Compliance was founded in 2004 to assist flight departments in meeting regulatory requirements and establishing safety-oriented operating standards quickly and affordably. It’s the first and only firm of its kind to achieve the International Standard for Business Aviation Operations (IS-BAO) Registration for its safety program, receiving certification in February, 2007. IS-BAO is a code of best practices which essentially structures ISO 9000 principles to apply to aviation safety. Visit www.BaldwinAviation.com for more information.
