National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chair Robert Sumwalt sees safety management systems (SMS) as solving what he has termed a disturbing trend at regionals for the lack of standardization and discipline in the cockpit for such accidents as Comair’s wrong-runway accident in 2006 and hot dogging of Pinnacle pilots which caused a crash in 2004. The Airline Pilots Association has also focused on regional training and pilot experience which was the subject of a USA Today story recently on regional airline safety. Despite improving safety statistics, a new risk management system is being adopted by both regulators and operators that promise to improve safety further. The emerging use of SMS has, as its core principal the establishment of a safety culture that requires the intense dedication of the entire organization. But in so doing, the efficiency and productivity of the company rises, balancing out the investment needed to develop and implement SMS programs.Related Story For a special, two-part report on this emerging surveillance system see the next issue of Regional Aviation News.