In years past, flight department Accountable Executives handled high level activities like department budgeting and the selling and purchasing of aircraft. The remaining flight department activities were left up to the professionals at the airport.

As aviation Safety Management Systems mature, successful departments have encouraged the accountable executive to be more involved, from a high level, in the SMS process.

IS-BAO requirement 3.2.1.b S2 states:

“Has the organization established defined lines of safety accountability throughout the organization, including a direct accountability for safety on the part of senior management?”

The following, from the 2015 IS-BAO Generic Company Operations Manual (GCOM), provides an excellent example of the accountable executive’s accountability.

1.2.1 Accountable Executive

The (Accountable Executive) is accountable for providing the resources required to conduct a safe operation and to implement and maintain the safety management system. The (Accountable Executive) authorities and responsibilities include:

sustaining conditions that promote the safe operation of company aircraft,

  1. actively supporting the safety management system,
  2. provision and allocation of human, technical, financial or other resources necessary for the effective and efficient performance of SMS and for en¬suring the safe operation of company aircraft,
  3. direct responsibility for the conduct of the organization’s affairs,
  4. final authority over operations of the organization,
  5. establishment and promotion of the safety policy,
  6. establishment of the organization’s safety objectives and safety targets,
  7. acting as the organization’s safety champion,
  8. having final responsibility for the resolution of all safety issues, and
  9. establishing and maintaining the organization’s competence to learn from the analysis of data collected through its safety reporting system.

About Fountain and Associates

Fountain & Associates, Inc. founder Phillip J. Fountain channeled more than 30 years of corporate aviation experience into the design and creation of the iIS-BAO Audit Protocol software. Fountain’s experience includes more than 16,000 hours of flight time in six different business aircraft and 10 years of IS-BAO auditing experience. Fountain and Associates is not affiliated with the IBAC or the IS-BAO protocol in any way.