I want to talk about one of the most overlooked roles in a flight department: the scheduler. It’s not a job many people set out to do. In fact, when I recently spoke with a large group of schedulers, most said they landed in the role by circumstance, not intention. Very few had formal dispatcher training, which is typical outside of major commercial operations. Yet despite that, they’re often the first line of defense when things get complicated. And things get complicated fa

Aviation organizations often say they want more safety data, but one of the most valuable sources is frequently underutilized: voluntary reporting through ASAP (Aviation Safety Action Program). ASAP is designed to capture what traditional safety systems often miss, including human error, procedural drift, and operational pressures that don’t always result in an event but carry significant risk. When participation is strong, ASAP becomes one of the most powerful tools in an SM

In safety management, how we explain behavior matters. When an event occurs, whether it is a missed checklist step, a ground handling error, or a deviation from procedure, our first instinct is often to look at the individual involved. What were they thinking? Why didn’t they follow the process? Were they careless? But decades of psychological research suggest something important. Humans are not very accurate when attributing the causes of other people’s behavior. More often

I’m a big observer…always have been. In the SMS and aviation world, I tend to notice things that feel just a little off-center. I absorb them, turn them over, and try to puzzle out why they exist and what might bring them back into alignment with what’s required or simply what’s needed to make things work better. The issues that consistently land in my personal “top three” are training and retention, acceptance of risk assessments in the maintenance department, and ERP drills