Honest 2026 numbers, including the option we sell · Updated July 2026
Every Part 135 operator needs an FAA-accepted SMS by roughly May 2027. Four ways to get there, with real numbers:
A good consultant delivers a tailored system and handles FSDO interaction. Worth it for complex certificates (multiple bases, mixed fleets, 20+ aircraft). For a 3-aircraft charter operation it's mostly paying expert rates for boilerplate — and consultant calendars are filling as the deadline approaches, which pushes prices up, not down.
Platforms are genuinely useful for larger operators managing volume: reports, audits, dashboards. But the FAA accepts a documented, functioning system, not a software subscription — plenty of accepted small-operator SMSs live in a binder and a spreadsheet. Watch for the anchor pattern: the "free manual template" exists to sell the subscription. Five years of a $300/month platform is $18,000.
The FAA publishes Part 5, advisory circulars, and guidance for free. Operators genuinely do this. Budget 60–100 hours of reading, drafting, and second-guessing — and the risk of an ASI bounce on structural issues (missing §5.55(e), unmeasurable objectives, big-operator framework smell) that costs you a revision cycle you may not have time for.
Full disclosure: this is what we sell, so weigh accordingly. The logic: roughly 90% of a small operator's SMS is structurally identical to every other small operator's — policy skeleton, SRM method, risk matrix, forms, records rules. A kit delivers that 90% professionally drafted with clause citations, leaving you the 10% that must genuinely be yours (your hazards, your objectives, your people). Ours is $1,995 until December 31 (it rises as the deadline approaches — published schedule, not fake scarcity), includes a seeded 40-hazard register so you never face a blank page, and a $3,995 PRO tier adds a line-by-line expert review of your filled documents.