Feathers ruffled at NATA summit

ARG/US is publicly disputing claims made at the NATA Air Charter Summit last month by the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) about its new industry audit standard. Russ Lawton, director of safety management for ACSF, said the group had “very strong participation” from organizations such as Wyvern and ARG/US in creating the ACSF’s new standard and worked “very closely” with them. However, ARG/US executive vice president Mark Fischer told AIN that ARG/US was invited to one meeting to discuss the creation of the standard. Fischer also claimed that ACSF executive director Jacqueline Rosser told a number of operators that the ACSF standard would “absolutely” replace all others in the industry. But Rosser told AIN, “It is not our purpose to put anyone out of
the marketplace. We don’t do the audits; we verify the report.”