Duncan Aviation's FBO facilities in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Michigan, have received IS-BAH Stage I accreditation. The company's other two main facilities in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Provo, Utah, have previously earned this accreditation.

IS-BAH certification means that the FBOs have met all international standards for business aviation handlers to promote and provide safe environments for customers and fellow team members. Wyvern, the company that performs audits for business aviation FBOs, looks to see how well the safety management system has been integrated into the company's culture.

“The reason for an organisation to have an SMS is that it coordinates all safety-related activities to help us better manage hazards and continually improve the safety of our products,” says Duncan's manager of audit programmes Mike Brown. “Because of the nature of our industry, hazards can never be completely eliminated, but the SMS lets us develop plans as a company, learn from mistakes and mitigate risks and hazards so we make informed decisions going forward.”

Achieving the IS-BAH Stage I accreditation means that Duncan Aviation's line services departments in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo have policies and procedures in place for every operation. They have to have performance indicators in place to track minor and major incidents and near misses, a way to report any incidents and a safety team in place to reduce the number of incidents.

“In addition to having the policies and procedures that make up the SMS in place, our team members must be familiar with them,” says Battle Creek services manager Ben Hammond. “The auditor asked team members specific questions related to policies in the SMS to ensure that all 32 members of the teams in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo know the policies and where to find them.”

Duncan Aviation's line service amenities include office space, conference rooms, pilot lounge, advanced weather planning and café service. Customers can also receive de-ice/pre-heat, GPU starts with fuel, baggage handling, on-site rental cars/courtesy cars, on-site fitness facilities, corporate hotel rates, quick turn service and NATA Safety 1st certified representatives.

IS-BAH Stage II accreditation is underway at all three main Duncan Aviation locations and Kalamazoo. The Lincoln, Nebraska, facility hopes to secure Stage II accreditation in 2020.

In other news, Duncan Aviation's engineering and certifications services (ECS) department has received validation from the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGAC) in Mexico for more than a dozen of its STCs. Duncan Aviation's ECS has made all of the STCs available for sale for work on aircraft registered in Mexico.

Ten of the approved STCs cover the installation of Digital Flight Data Recorders in 25 makes and models of aircraft, while an additional 11 approved STCs cover the installation of TCAS II on 22 aircraft makes/models.

Owner/operators of aircraft registered in Mexico now have several options to obtain the Duncan Aviation STCs.

“The approval of these STCs is the result of how hard the engineering and certifications services team here at Duncan Aviation works to make sure our customers around the world can benefit from the work we do,” says manager of engineering and certifications business development Shawn Carraher. “Our entire approach to making our engineering and certification services available to the global community focuses on the future and is based on our customers' needs.”