Emergency Response Program
General Awareness

The Emergency Response Program (ERP) is Gold Aviation Services' plan for responding to any emergency involving our aircraft, passengers, crew, or personnel. It exists because when something goes wrong — especially something serious — people need to know exactly what to do without having to figure it out under pressure.

The ERP covers a wide range of emergencies: aircraft accidents and incidents, overdue or missing aircraft, medical emergencies (inflight and on the ground), fires and natural disasters, security incidents including bomb threats and hijackings, and other critical events involving company personnel or assets anywhere in the world.

Gold Aviation Services is required to have an emergency response capability as part of our SMS under 14 CFR Part 5 and AC 120-92B, which identify emergency response planning as a Safety Policy requirement. The ERP is a living document — it is reviewed and updated regularly, and it will be updated whenever there are organizational changes, personnel changes, or lessons learned from drills or actual events.

The ERP is organized in five parts:

• Part A — Initial Notification Process and form
• Part B — Quick Reference Checklists by emergency type
• Part C — Role-specific checklists for Emergency Response Team members
• Part D — Detailed emergency response policy and procedures
• Part E — Forms, contact information, and definitions

As a general employee (not an assigned ERT member), you will most likely interact with Part A and Part B. You are expected to know that the ERP exists, where to find it, and what to do in the first few minutes of a potential emergency.

If someone at Gold Aviation Services becomes aware of a potential emergency, they become the Response Coordinator — the person responsible for initiating the response until a more senior person takes over. This could be anyone: a flight coordinator, a dispatcher, a maintenance technician, or an administrative staff member. You don't need to be on the ERT to receive the first call.

The first step is always the Initial Notification Form, found in Part A of the ERP. It walks you through:

1. Confirming the information through a verified source
2. Notifying the Emergency Response Team call list — starting at the top and working down until you reach someone
3. Verifying the emergency is real
4. Contacting the Activation Committee (Director of Safety, Chief Pilot, Director of Operations, Director of Charter, Director of Maintenance, President) to decide whether to activate the ERP
5. If activation is confirmed: activating the Emergency Response Team (ERT)

Once the ERT is established, the Emergency Response Director (Paige Tehse) takes command. All Flight Department personnel report to the Emergency Response Director during an active response — not to their usual supervisors. The Emergency Response Director is responsible to the President (Leonard Goldberg) for the outcome of the response.

The Emergency Response Center (ERC) will be established at our primary office location. The ERC is the operational hub for the response — all information, documentation, and coordination flows through it. Once the ERC is active, only ERT members and authorized personnel are permitted inside.

If you are not an assigned ERT member, your responsibilities during an active emergency are clear and simple: report in, follow instructions, stay out of the way, and say nothing to anyone outside the company about the event.

Report in. If you become aware of an emergency involving Gold Aviation Services, contact the Director of Safety or Director of Operations immediately. Do not assume someone else has already called. If you received the initial notification, complete the Initial Notification Form in Part A of the ERP and follow the steps there.

Stay clear of the ERC. The Emergency Response Center requires controlled access. Unless you are an ERT member or have been specifically authorized by the Emergency Response Director, do not enter the ERC. If you are needed, you will be called.

Do not talk to the media. This is non-negotiable. Media releases must be authorized by the President, Leonard Goldberg. The only authorized spokesperson for Gold Aviation Services during an emergency is the person designated by the President. If you are approached by any media, reporter, journalist, or member of the public asking about an incident, your response is:

Do not post on social media. This applies to all platforms — Instagram, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and any other channel. No posts, stories, or messages about any incident involving Gold Aviation Services while an emergency response is active. Social media posts about an incident can compromise the investigation, conflict with official statements, and cause serious harm to families who may not yet have been notified.

Do not release the names of passengers or crew. Names are released only after reasonable efforts have been made to notify each person's next of kin. This is the Family Assistance Coordinator's responsibility.

Contact your own family. Upon ERT establishment, all Flight Department personnel are encouraged to contact their own families to confirm their own status. This reduces incoming calls during the response and lets your family know you are safe.

Gold Aviation Services takes its obligations to passengers, crew, and their families seriously. The ERP establishes specific commitments around how families are notified and supported during an emergency.

The Family Assistance Coordinator (Candice Babila) is responsible for next-of-kin notifications and ongoing family support. Notifications begin as soon as the passenger and crew manifest has been reconciled and identities confirmed. In the case of serious injury or death, initial notification is made by trained professionals — police, clergy, or trained crisis notification personnel. Gold Aviation Services personnel who are not trained in crisis notification are not used to deliver initial next-of-kin notifications.

Next-of-kin notification order per the ERP: Spouse → Father → Mother → Adult Son → Adult Daughter → Grandfather → Grandmother → Uncle → Aunt → Other Adult Relative. Minor children are not included in initial notifications.

Names of passengers and crew will not be released publicly until next-of-kin have been notified. This protects families from learning about an incident through the news before they have been personally contacted.

Gold Aviation Services also recognizes that ERT members and other Flight Department personnel can experience significant stress during an emergency response. Psychological support resources will be made available to personnel following a serious event. If you feel you need support after participating in an emergency response — even in a peripheral role — you are encouraged to ask.

An ERP that has never been practiced is significantly less effective than one that has. Gold Aviation Services conducts regular exercises to ensure the ERT is familiar with the program, roles are understood, and gaps are identified before they matter.

The ERP requires two types of exercises:

• ERP Exercise (annually): A tabletop-style exercise with no time limit. The goal is to walk through the ERP, identify any procedural gaps or role conflicts, and ensure everyone is comfortable with the process. All personnel expected to participate in an emergency response take part.
• Full Tabletop Drill (every 36 months): A time-controlled simulation of an actual emergency. A Master Clock tracks elapsed time. This drill tests the ERT under realistic time pressure and is intended to surface challenges that the annual exercise may not — including personnel absences, equipment failures, and communication difficulties.

Drill participation is documented. Records of tabletop drills — including date, location, and participants — are retained. If you participate in a drill, your attendance will be logged.

The ERP is also reviewed and potentially revised following any actual emergency activation, whether or not the response identified problems. Continuous improvement of the program is a standing commitment.

First Aid, AED, and CPR training is encouraged for all personnel. If you are interested in this training, contact Paige Tehse. The ERP recommends that all personnel be trained given the nature of our operations.