A new product resulting from last years merger between CharterX and Wyvern Consulting was unveiled yesterday at the Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar (CASS) in Tucson, Ariz. The seminar, hosted by the Flight Safety Foundation and the National Business Aviation Association, saw CharterX/Wyvern announce their new PASS program, an acronym for Pilot and Aircraft Safety Survey, which is designed to keep charter passengers aware of who is flying their airplane along with their qualifications. Indeed, the company said its new PASS program enables air charter passengers, brokers and operators to ensure that each and every flight meets existing or specified safety standards. A PASS certifies that a flight is in legal compliance and that it meets upcoming Department of Transportation rulemaking regarding full preflight disclosure of a FAR Part 135 operator. Operational control, doing business as (DBA) and broker/arranger relationships are disclosed.
The PASS safety-check engine evaluates the operator, aircraft and crew against a specified safety standard. For instance, the pilot check verifies that the assigned pilot is fully certificated; it ensures that each pilot is properly type rated in the assigned aircraft, and that each pilot has met flight time requirements in aircraft type and has current medical and training records. Private aviation, specifically the air charter segment of general aviation, is growing, says Jim Betlyon, CharterX founder and CEO. Providing safety intelligence on the operator, aircraft and crew assigned to each trip, the PASS system assures each party involved that they are booking a safe and compliant flight. The business and leisure traveler, entities arranging the air transportation and the government, are requiring assurances that a service provider is safe, legal and dependable.
