The ranks of the Wyvern Wingmen are set to increase with 26 new and returning charter operators taking safety audits during the months of September and October. It is now 20 years since the Trenton, N.J.-based safety consultancy established the Wyvern Standard and, thankfully, not one of the operators approved under this has suffered a fatal accident in this time.

For charter buyers needing a dependable vendor management tool, Wyvern has always been about more than knowing that an operator passed an audit on a one-off basis, according to managing director Brent Moldowan. “Post-audit an operator is required to keep up with particular reporting requirements,” he explained. “Operator, aircraft and crew background checks happen 24/7 in the Wyvern database. This ensures that The Wyvern Audit is valid through the term of the recommendation and that it is more than just a snapshot of what the audit team saw while they were on site with the charter operator.”

Technology is continuing to take the application of Wyvern methods to new levels, with proactive data mining used to obtain accurate, real-time data, including training documents, the currency of crew qualifications, insurance levels, maintenance standards and aircraft and engine hours, as well as changes in management at the operator.

“After the audit we have a reliable way to check on the operation after each mission,” Moldowan told AIN. “It pushes the reporting system back to the charter buyer and they can run the data against the Wyvern Standard or any industry average. Brokers can use it to ensure that an operator is legal.” The system can check whether a specific aircraft (filtered by tail number) is still registered under a particular air operator’s certificate or whether it has moved to another operator’s certificate.

Improving paperless efficiency for operators as they seek to remain compliant is the fact that training and maintenance data can be collected directly and automatically from the providers of these services. Now Wyvern, a subsidiary of Avinode following its acquisition of Charter X last year, is repackaging its various services and databases to deliver a more complete service to operators and buyers. These include its Pilot and Aircraft Safety Survey (PASS), which builds around 3,200 mission-specific safety intelligence reports each month, with an alert given to Wyvern staff if an anomaly is discovered.

Moldowan serves as a vice president of the Air Charter Association of North America. Wyvern clients include Executive Fliteways, Pentastar Aviation, Clay Lacy, Gama Aviation, Prime Jet, New World Aviation and Jet Edge. “If you take safety seriously then you are a good customer for Wyvern,” he concluded.–C.A.