Where Birds Don't Fly

The Canadian Safety Management System (SMS) is designed to continuously improve aviation safety by identifying hazards, managing risk, monitoring performance, and learning from operational experience. Among the six SMS components, Training and Quality Assurance perform complementary but distinctly different functions. Although they are often discussed together, they serve different purposes within an effective safety management system. Training provides individuals with the knowledge, skills, and procedures required to perform their duties safely, while Quality Assurance determines whether those duties are being performed effectively and whether improvements are required. In practical terms, training prepares people to do the job, while Quality Assurance enables both individuals and organizations to learn how to do the job better. Training is a planned and structured activity. It introduces personnel to regulations, company policies, operating procedures, hazard reporting systems, emer...