Here's my take on what is going on in the industry in a nutshell. After the Buffalo crash a few years ago, a new set of regs came out called 14 CFR Part 5 (Safety Management Systems). An SMS is a system for operational risk management. Here's the timeline for compliance from 14 CFR Part 5.
§5.1 Applicability.
(a) A certificate holder under part 119 of this chapter authorized to conduct operations in accordance with the requirements of part 121 of this chapter must have a Safety Management System (SMS) that meets the requirements of this part and is acceptable to the FAA by January 8, 2018.
(b) A certificate holder must submit an implementation plan to the FAA Administrator for review no later than September 9, 2015. The implementation plan must be approved no later than March 9, 2016.
There is also a part of the new 14 CFR Part 5 that deals with SMS for airlines undergoing certification. Baltia should be grandfathered under the old system as they entered phase 2 before March 2015. Problem is that no one has ever been in phase 3 for so long before. Not sure if they are making them switch over in mid-certification. I doubt it but if they are, that's a big deal.
Also, the FAA is currently changing from the Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS) to a new FAA Safety Assurance System (SAS) as a method to perform surveillance of Part 135 and Part 121 airlines. The Data Collection Tools (checklists) used to perform the surveillance are completely different in the new system. There are thousands of pages in these checklists. This will be a complete pain in the ass for everyone, especially start-ups. I strongly doubt the FAA is making Baltia complete the new checklists as part of their self-audit but again, if they are, that's a huge job.
The only thing due this fall that I can think of is the SMS implementation plan so that's probably what they are referring to in recent message traffic.
The timing for the Baltia SMS is certainly different. It's just a strange certification putting them in uncharted territory both for the FAA and Baltia IMO.
