The Basic Aviation Risk Standard Explained

Posted May 27, 2015

Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Air Charter Flights
Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Air Charter Flights
Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Air Charter Flights

There are plenty of air charter flight service companies to choose from in Australia. However standards of safety, reliability and professionalism can vary a great deal. After 40+ years in the aviation industry, Corporate Air has seen it all when it comes to the best and worst standards of service provision.

The Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Program was created by the Flight Safety Foundation in collaboration with some of the world’s largest resource and mining companies to provide a more efficient means of monitoring, assessing and analysing safety risk associated with aircraft charter flights. The Flight Safety Foundation states –

“Many organizations rely on the use of aviation to support their activities including the movement of company personnel. The aircraft operators used for these services range from those that provide dedicated contract support, on demand charter or regular passenger transport services. The aircraft used for these services range from small single-engine helicopters to transport category jet aircraft.

The BAR Standard was developed to meet an identified need to establish a common global aviation safety assessment and audit protocol.

It is a risk-based model framed against the actual threats posed to aviation operations, particularly those that occur within challenging and remote environments. It directly links these threats to associated controls, recovery and mitigation measures as opposed to outdated and prescriptive formats previously used within a number of industries.

Whilst the program was originally developed to meet the needs of the mining and resources sector, it is also used by other organizations that use aviation to support their activities. These include government and humanitarian and other aid agencies.

The items reviewed during a BARS Audit are referenced and mapped to various sources such as the ICAO Annexes, the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and other authoritative material making it applicable to a broad category of aircraft operations.

Together with additional risk assessment tools, the BARS Program is a complete package to assist organizations with the management of their aviation risk and provides users of aviation support with the level of safety assurance required by their respective organizations”.

It is important to note that the BARS standard is generally accepted as higher than that required by the aviation regulatory authorities. Essentially, the program establishes standard criteria in order to compare and view trends, to target specific areas of occurrence and to collaboratively reduce safety risk of charter flights. By doing so, BARS aims to achieve a higher level of quality audit and to establish greater confidence for customers and Regulatory bodies in all areas of an operation’s organisation.

Corporate Air is a GOLD Status Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) air charter flight compliant operator and has achieved a zero audit finding (the highest level of compliance) in all three consecutive BARS audits it has undertaken.

A copy of Corporate Air’s current BARS certification can be viewed here.