2009 SMS Pilot Project (SMSPP) Analysis - FAA

• Understanding how SMS could be applied to a very small company with less than 150
employees, including IT tools, training, etc.;
• Understanding how small and large companies differ;
• Understanding how SMS can be applied and developed within the general aviation
environment;
• Understanding how less complex compares to more complex products; and
• Understanding the considerations of a manufacturer trying to simultaneously satisfy
multiple airworthiness authorities’ SMS requirements.
After assessing the company attributes, the team recommended a group of organizations to
participate in the pilot project. The Aircraft Certification Management Team reviewed approved
the selections and committed AIR resources to support the pilot projects.
3-2 Overview of the “Challenge Session” Orientation
The MSMS team was faced with a short timeline for getting the most information possible from
the pilot project. The team wanted to make sure that the materials, tools, and processes were as
close to fully operational as possible prior to beginning implementation. The MSMS team
determined that the use of a Challenge Session to evaluate our pilot project processes would be
beneficial in creating the best possible start.
A Challenge Session was held on November 3–4, 2010 to kick off the pilot project.
All 30 members of the MSMS team participated. They presented material to the participating
D&M organizations covering the goals and objectives of the pilot project. In addition, FAA
employees from the manufacturing and engineering offices from each directorate, an FAA
Academy Instructor, and an AFS representative who was involved with the AFS SMS pilot
project (AFS-900) attended the Challenge Session.
The Challenge Session covered the following topics:
• Overview of the pilot project to implement an SMS into D&M organizations
o Purpose of implementing SMS
o List of participants
o Timeline for the pilot project
o Pilot project objectives
o Pilot project process
o Roles and responsibilities of D&M organizations, MSMS team, FAA
directorates, and FAA engineering and manufacturing offices
o Communication approaches
o Data collection and analysis approaches
• Lessons learned collection and sharing approaches
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