ASCF ASAP Program Goes Live

The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) has officially gone live with its aviation safety action program (ASAP) for on-demand charter operators. The demonstration program currently has two charter operators under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Minneapolis Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), and will eventually expand to other charter operators in the FAA Great Lakes Region.

"We're very excited about the potential of this program to reduce risk and improve the safety culture in our industry," said ACSF Chairman Dennis Keith. "Operators and fractional managers will be able to participate at a greatly reduced cost, and the safety data they receive will be a significant benefit to their overall Safety Management System."

An ASAP is a reporting program that allows employees of participating air carriers, fractional managers and repair station certificate holders to identify and report safety issues to management and to the FAA for resolution, without fear that the FAA will use reports accepted under the program to take legal enforcement action against them, or that companies will use such information to take disciplinary action. Through such reporting, all participants have access to valuable safety information that might not otherwise be obtainable.

The objective of the ACSF ASAP program is to expand to other FAA regions and to encourage charter operators and fractional managers that lack the internal resources to establish their own ASAP program to participate through the ACSF and benefit from this valuable safety tool.