Medallion Overview

The Medallion Foundation is a non-profit organization promoting aviation safety through systems enhancements by providing management resources, training, and support to the aviation community. Our mission of reducing aviation accidents is fostered by research, analysis, education, auditing, and advocacy of Safety Management Systems and higher flight-training standards.

Embracing all aspects of aviation from student pilots to airline management, the Medallion Foundation has programs designed to enhance aviation safety through multiple channels: The Shield Program/5-Star Program, Single-Pilot Operator Program, Education and Advocacy Programs, General Aviation Programs, and the CFI/DPE (Certified Flight Instructor / Designated Pilot Examiner) Initiative Program.

The Medallion Foundation is focused on changing the culture and attitude of operators and pilots flying in Alaska. The Foundation provides training on system safety and human behavior in an effort to reduced aviation accidents. These concepts are taken from a mixture of research, accident and trend analysis, and industry best practices and presented for the edification of our clients. In short, we are trying to see what people are doing right and pass it along through the process of continual improvement and elevating aviation safety through conscious endeavor, not maintaining the status quo.

Voluntary in nature and focused on establishing and sustaining an elevated level of safety performance through application of SMS principles, the 5-Star Shield programs promotes and helps develop:

• A safety culture that holds safety as a core value
• Continuous professional development of individual skills and competence
• Proactive sharing of operational control responsibilities
• Hazard identification and risk management techniques and trend analysis
• Management practices that support the organization's safety objectives

The Five-Star program represents the five cornerstones of the Medallion Shield, the highest honor achievable through the Medallion Foundation. These cornerstones encourage organizations to develop and incorporate a:

• Safety Star Program: At a minimum, includes safety meetings and audits, the use of root-cause analysis, hazard identification, incident investigations and a viable emergency response program all supported by top-level management.
  
  
• CFIT Star Avoidance Program: A combination of classroom training blended with an Aviation Training Device scenario-based curriculum in the recognition, avoidance, and operational aspects of flying in areas of flat-light, white-out, and deteriorating weather conditions.
  
  
• Operational Risk Management Star Program: A proactive system providing analytical tools and a system of checks and balances to identify hazards, manage risks, and monitor trends. This Program requires an active shared decision in flight operations, not found in Far Part 135.
  
  
• Maintenance and Ground Service Operations Star Program: Focusing on quality assurance in maintenance and ground service departments through implementation of a proactive surveillance program incorporating hazard identification, risk management, personnel training requirements, and documented management involvement and follow-up.
  
  
• Internal Evaluation Star Program: A process-based proactive internal evaluation system focusing on systems safety principles, Medallion program guidelines, and company policies and procedures.

The Medallion Shield is the culmination point of the 5-Star program; as once an organization has received all five stars, they are eligible to be evaluated for the Medallion Shield. This evaluation focuses on company management, corporate safety culture, and front-line employees to determine if the concepts associated with the stars are successfully incorporated into day-to-day company operations.

Education and Advocacy Programs

The Medallion Foundation provides specific training classes, one-on-one company mentoring, and auditing in conjunction with and supplemental to the Five-Star / Shield programs. Courses such as System Safety, Safety Officer, Flight Risk Management, and TapRoot ® Root Cause Analysis are offered as prerequisites for the Star Programs.

Medallion program managers are available for one-on-one consultations regarding Medallion programs, System Safety or Safety Management System concepts and for assistance in obtaining and maintaining currency in Medallion programs.

The Medallion Foundation recognizes the complexities involved with implementing concepts of Safety Management Systems and System Safety principles into organizational operational practices and that funds and resources to allocate towards safety programs are scarce. With this understanding, we are committed to making the necessary resources available at little or no cost. What we require in return, is a commitment to the program which includes time and resources required for personnel training and program implementation.

General Aviation Programs

The Medallion Foundation recognizes the need for enhanced training outside of the cockpit and has provided PC-based flight simulation devices throughout Alaska. While originally provided to address the training requirements of the Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) Avoidance Star program, these Aviation Training Devices (ATDs) can be utilized to hone instrument flying skills, practice in recognition of deteriorating weather conditions, and a multitude of scenario-based training modules.

These units are available for use by anyone with at least a student pilot certificate and time available to stop by one of our 10 locations throughout Alaska (Anchorage, Bethel, Fairbanks, Homer, Juneau, Kenai, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Palmer, and Talkeetna).

CFI/DPE Initiative Program

The CFI/DPE Initiative Program was established for two primary reasons: a) To provide an opportunity and forum for CFI’s, DPE’s, and other aviation stakeholders to collaborate and provide input towards developing and implementing intervention strategies aimed at reducing general aviation accidents and b) To ensure intervention strategies and corrective actions are moved forward and completed.

The project involves a three-step process:

1. Using portions of the TapRoot ® analysis process to review Alaskan aviation accidents and determine the root causes of those accidents.
2. Transforming stakeholder input into interventions, corrective actions, and associated training scenarios designed to address the root causes.
3. Implementing the training scenarios for utilization in our 2-axis motion Piper Cub simulator and making the scenarios available for CFI’s and their student pilots.

The over-riding theory of the CFI/DPE program is to reduce general aviation accidents through more focused aeronautical decision making, a better understanding and application of practical test standards (PTS) for pilot certificates, and viewing the PTS as a minimum standard applicable before and after the checkride.