The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) introduced the temporary option for remote auditing in March to its International Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) and International Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) organisations to aid continued safe system operations in spite of COVID-19 limitations.

An Alaskan based IS-BAO Stage III corporate carrier and Carlsbad Jet Center were the first organisations to complete the new remote auditing option with many more companies in the process or making plans to use it. IBAC continues to support these organisations with virtual solutions in an effort to stay on course with developing and maintaining their safety culture through the voluntary, and non-profit IS-BAO and IS-BAH programmes.

The first IS-BAO virtual audit was conducted in March by IBAC's accredited auditor, Rob Little. “The operator is in Anchorage, Alaska and I am in Georgia, so we had to take advantage of the virtual tools available and collaborate as a team to make it work. Kelly Haney led the IS-BAO renewal effort very effectively. Her flexibility and can-do attitude made the audit process a total success.”

Kelly Haney, safety security supervisor for the Alaskan operator says: “We were so grateful for this timely audit alternative from IS-BAO, as we really couldn't postpone the audit without regressing back to Stage I and an in-person audit was not an option. Rob was very patient with us as we had to use multiple platforms to accomplish different tasks; video for the aircraft and hangar inspection; FTP site to load records, MS Teams for meetings and interviews, FaceTime for review, and on and on. It all worked out and we virtually renewed our Stage III IS-BAO.”

Since the inception of the remote auditing option, IS-BAO has scheduled 12 and completed seven virtual audits, in which two of those were beta operators for the new progressive Stage III programme.

The first of 10 virtual audits scheduled to date for the IS-BAH programme was completed recently with Carlsbad Jet Center in California where it achieved IS-BAH Stage i status with IBAC accredited auditor, Stewart MacPherson. He led the audit from British Columbia, Canada. “It took great teamwork and patience to complete this first-ever virtual IS-BAH audit and Katie Feuge, the safety officer for Carlsbad went above and beyond to make it all come together,” commented MacPherson. “I am proud to have played a role in Carlsbad Jet Center's unique journey to Stage I and look forward to helping others achieve IS-BAH, especially during these challenging times.”

Josh Hochberg, president, Hochberg Aviation Management, the manager of Carlsbad Jet Center comments: “Safety is always first in aviation. We are glad to achieve IS-BAH Stage I registration and advance our safety culture while also staying safe from COVID-19. We are also proud to be the first FBO to complete our audit virtually, in line with our corporate values of safety and innovation.”

“We congratulate these companies and their staff, and thank them along with the participating auditors for making these first remote audits happen during these unprecedented times,” stated Bennet Walsh, IS-BAO programme director “This takes a substantial amount of preparation time and coordination between all parties involved, and we appreciate them going the extra mile to make it happen.”

Terry Yeomans, IS-BAH programme director stated, “This has been and continues to be a successful contingency measure to a traditional on-site audit while travel restrictions and social distancing measures restrict business as usual. There are many lessons learned, and I can see how some elements of the remote audit process could be blended in with the traditional IS-BAH audit for the future, but our goal is to get back to on-site auditing as quickly as possible.”

IS-BAO and IS-BAH programme directors, Bennet Walsh and Terry Yeomans provided more details in a recent NBAA News Hour webinar focused on virtual auditing and the recording is available through NBAA.