The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) has updated its Industry Audit Standard (IAS) to incorporate safety management system requirements contained within the FAA’s Part 5, as well as the International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 19. The updated IAS, which was developed for Part 135 operations but also can apply to Part 91, comes as the FAA has been developing new SMS requirements for charter operators, maintenance organizations, and manufacturers based on its Part 5 regulations that were originally implemented for commercial scheduled carriers.

ACSF expects the updated requirements will be in place by the end of 2022, and that they will call for an SMS program that is appropriate to the size, scope, and complexity of a company’s operations.

ACSF presented the changes to its standard during a recent auditors’ workshop.  “Now that many of our external auditors are aligned with the IAS revisions—and how to interpret the standards—our next step is to help educate our ACSF member companies on what will be required in the coming year,” said ACSF president Bryan Burns. “If a company doesn’t have an SMS in place, the time to start is now, so we urge them to get in touch with us.”

Pennsylvania-based L.J Aviation was the first member company to complete the updated IAS.