Anthony Tivnan Of Magellan Jets Spoke About Charter Broker’s Role In Safety Management

On March 4th and 5th the Air Charter Safety Foundation held its Safety Symposium at the National Travel Safety Board’s (NTSB) training facility in Ashburn, Virginia.  The ACSF Symposium is the annual gathering of leaders in the air charter industry where current and emerging safety challenges are investigated.

Anthony Tivnan, Founder and President of Magellan Jets, was included on a distinguished panel asked to speak regarding the Charter Broker’s Role in Safety Management.  Tivnan gave recent examples of accidents within the charter industry and made note that a common denominator was evident in most cases; pilot error and lack of experience.  He mentioned that numerous times his company has lost business when competing due to the fact that his company, Magellan Jets, will only use flight crews that have logged a minimum of 3,000 hours total and more importantly 300 hours in the type of jet they would be flying for his clients.  The FAA requires only 1,500 total hours and none in type.  Only a handful of charter brokers and providers use the higher guidelines.

Tivnan said “I have no doubt that these pilots are capable of flying the jet, but in a situation where some sort of deviation occurs, it is imperative that the pilot behind the controls is fully familiar with that cockpit and has experience in it.”

He raised the point that the majority of charter brokers do not have the infrastructure in place or even the aviation professionals on staff to perform the proper due diligence to ensure the safety of each flight arranged.  “There are more than 2,500 operators in the US and based on our safety standards we can only use about 300 of them.  Last year we only worked with 90 operators based on the criteria we’ve set forth in our Magellan Jets Preferred Network (MJPN)” he said. 

He went on to discuss that these “pop-up” companies don’t consider safety when providing options and said “we are responsible for the safety of our clients, and when safety decisions need to be made we stick to our core values and don’t consider the finances.”

Magellan Jets was the first charter broker to be invited to join the Air Charter Safety Foundation.

FMI: www.magellanjets.com