What Goes Into a Part 135 General Operations Manual

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The GOM Is Your Operating Playbook

If you're pursuing or currently holding a Part 135 certificate, your General Operations Manual is the single most important document in your operation. It's the manual your FAA inspector reviews line by line during certification. It's what your CMT references during surveillance. It's what your pilots, dispatchers, and maintenance personnel are required to comply with every day.

The GOM isn't just a regulatory formality. It's a detailed, FAA-approved document that describes how your company operates: your policies, your procedures, your limitations, and your standards. When done right, it protects you legally, keeps your operation organized, and gives your team clear guidance. When done poorly, it creates confusion, exposes compliance gaps, and makes surveillance visits a lot more stressful than they need to be.

What the FAA Requires in a GOM

14 CFR §135.23 lays out the specific items that must be included in your manual. The list is long, and every item needs to be addressed in a way that reflects your actual operation. At a high level, your GOM needs to cover:

Your company's organizational structure, including the duties and responsibilities of each management position and each category of employee. Your flight operations procedures, covering everything from preflight planning and weather minimums to passenger handling and crew scheduling. Your weight and balance procedures, MEL policies, and aircraft operating limitations. Your maintenance procedures, including how inspections are tracked, how discrepancies are handled, and how maintenance records are kept. For operators with nine or fewer passenger seats, maintenance guidance is typically included directly in the GOM rather than in a separate General Maintenance Manual.

Your GOM also needs to address crew qualifications and training requirements, hazardous materials procedures (even if you don't carry hazmat, you need to document that decision), emergency procedures, accident and incident reporting, and your flight locating and operational control procedures.

The manual should be written so that any employee in your operation can pick it up and understand what's expected of them. It's not a document you write once and forget. It needs to stay current as your operation evolves, your fleet changes, or regulations are updated.

Not Every Certificate Requires a Full GOM

This is where operators often get confused. The FAA issues Part 135 certificates at different levels based on the size and scope of your operation, and the documentation requirements are different for each.

Single-Pilot Certificate

A single-pilot operator is limited to one named pilot on OpSpec A040, operating one aircraft. Under a deviation authorized by OpSpec A005, single-pilot operators are not required to develop a full GOM or a formal training program. Instead, the primary documentation requirement is a Statement of Compliance, which is a regulation-by-regulation document demonstrating how your operation meets each applicable section of 14 CFR Parts 91, 119, and 135.

The Statement of Compliance is not a simplified version of a GOM. It's a fundamentally different document. Rather than describing your operational procedures in narrative form, it walks through each applicable regulation and documents specifically how you comply. For the single-pilot operator, the FARs themselves essentially serve as your operating manual.

Basic Certificate

A basic operator can have up to five pilots and five aircraft, with limitations on aircraft size, geographic area, and the types of instrument approaches authorized. Basic operators are required to have a GOM, training programs, and the required management positions. However, because of the limited size and scope of these operations, the FAA may authorize specific deviations to certain requirements. The key word is "may." Deviations aren't automatic. They're requested by the applicant and granted at the discretion of the FAA based on your specific operation.

Standard Certificate

A standard Part 135 operator has no preset limits on the size or scope of operations. Full compliance with Part 119.71 management position requirements is mandatory, including a Director of Operations, Chief Pilot, and Director of Maintenance (or combined positions where authorized). The GOM must be comprehensive, covering every aspect of your flight operations, maintenance, training, and administrative procedures. Depending on aircraft type and operational scope, proving tests may be required.

Write It for Your Operation, Not for the Inspector

One of the most common mistakes operators make is writing a GOM that reads like a regulatory compliance exercise rather than an actual operating manual. Yes, it needs to satisfy every requirement in §135.23. But it also needs to be something your people can actually use.

The best GOMs are written in clear, direct language. They describe procedures the way they're actually performed, not the way they sound impressive on paper. If your weight and balance procedure involves a specific form and a specific approval workflow, describe that exact process. If your MEL policy references a specific document and a specific notification procedure, spell it out. The more your GOM reflects your real operation, the easier it is for your team to follow and the better it holds up during surveillance.

Generic, template-driven GOMs are easy to spot. An ASI who has reviewed dozens of manuals can tell when a document was written by someone who understands the operation versus someone who copied a template and changed the company name. That doesn't mean you can't start with a framework. It means the finished product needs to be yours.

Getting It Right the First Time

The GOM is reviewed and approved during the certification process, and it stays with you for the life of your certificate. Revisions require FAA review. Getting it right from the start saves you time, reduces back-and-forth with your FSDO, and gives your operation a solid foundation to build on.

Whether you're a single-pilot operator putting together a Statement of Compliance, a basic certificate holder building your first GOM, or a standard operator expanding your manual to cover a new aircraft or operation type, the document needs to be thorough, accurate, and tailored to what you actually do.

If you need help building your GOM, Statement of Compliance, or any supporting documentation for your Part 135 operation, we can help. Every document we produce is built around your specific operation, delivered at a one-time cost, and designed to hold up under FAA scrutiny.