Garmin International announced in a news release on June 7 a number of updates to its FltPlan safety management system (SMS), such as risk/hazard reports that allow flight and ground personnel to more easily report risks they encounter in their flight operations. “The modernized user interface provides a simple step-by-step process to collect essential information and enables safety managers with a structured means of safety risk management reporting and decision making,” said the release. “The more in-depth reporting structure allows flight departments to further improve their safety culture initiatives.” Categories of the reports offered by FltPlan SMS include cabin, dispatch, flight crew, ground, and maintenance.
Garmin said the seamless integration between FltPlan.com and FltPlan SMS allows for information such as the tail number, departure airport, scheduled arrival airport, landing airport, passenger count, and more to be stored in a pilot’s FltPlan.com account. “An improved dashboard allows safety managers to more easily search and filter historical risk/hazard reports to better identify trends,” said the release. Pilots can now simply press a dedicated SMS button and transfer this important information into a risk/hazard report, which can then be optionally submitted through the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) directly though FltPlan SMS. For flight departments that operate internationally, FltPlan SMS provides compliance where an SMS is required. “FltPlan.com allows pilots to take advantage of free web-based flight planning and flight management services, and integrates SMS, runway analysis, international handling and services, as well as other offerings.”
