Where Birds Don't Fly

Some time ago, a comprehensive series of Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) was developed for an airport in response to findings identified by Transport Canada during a regulatory oversight activity. Each corrective action plan was prepared using the principles of the aviation Safety Management System (SMS), conforming to Advisory Circulars, with the objective of addressing the root causes of every finding, strengthening regulatory compliance, and establishing sustainable processes that support continuous safety improvement. Rather than treating the findings as isolated deficiencies, each CAP examined the underlying human factors, organizational factors, supervision factors and environmental factors that contributed to the observation. Every finding was individually analyzed, documented, and linked to specific corrective actions, assigned responsibilities, implementation timelines, verification methods, and long-term monitoring activities. This systematic approach ensured that corrective a...

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...