The Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) is pleased to announce that both the FAA Central Region and FAA Northwest Mountain Region have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that allows charter operators, corporate flight departments and fractional program managers to participate in the Air Charter Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP).

The ACSF-managed ASAP program is now approved in the contiguous United States including the FAA Eastern, Great Lakes, Central, Southern, Southwest, Western-Pacific and Northwest Mountain Regions.

ASAP is an FAA/industry partnership that provides a near consequence-free environment, whereby the participants can identify safety issues and report information that can be critical in identifying potential precursors to accidents.

“A confidential, non-punitive reporting program is an important cornerstone to developing a robust safety management system,” said ACSF President Bryan Burns. “Company employees are more likely to report events when they have confidence that their reports will be used to produce positive results, and not to place blame.”

Burns noted, “Companies that have implemented an Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) have learned a wealth of information regarding safety-related events that otherwise would have gone undetected until a major event occurred.”

By enrolling in ASAP, companies can benefit from viewing de-identified safety event reports from other participating companies. The value of the program is the collective volume of data that can be reviewed for specific safety patterns. By identifying trends early, the company can implement corrective action through changes in their policies, procedures, and rules.