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Creating a culture of safety has always been a critical part of developing an efficient and ordered National Air Space (NAS). It is with that mindset that the FAA has developed a Safety Management System (SMS) mandate which provides a framework for a more safe and secure aviation industry. As the NAS becomes more crowded with new entrants, the SMS will need to evolve to meet the FAA’s safety mission. The current SMS mandate was put into place for commercial airline operators by March 2018. However, since safety is vital to every aspect of aviation, it’s also necessary to ensure that other types of operators have SMS in place as well. Still, it’s not quite as simple as applying the SMS for commercial aviation to business – or other types – of operators. During a virtual town hall event hosted by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), Ed Bolen sat down with FAA Administrator Steve Dickson to discuss the challenges that current SMS poses for business operators. They discussed the crash that killed Kobe Bryant, seven other passengers, and the pilot on January 26, 2020. “The [Island Express Helicopter] appeared to check all the boxes for how an SMS should operate,” Dickson said. The crash painfully illustrated that there is much more to be done to build a safety-first culture in the business aviation industry.