The remains of an insect in a pitot tube of a British Airways jetliner may well provide a clue to what happened to Air France Flight 447 when it experienced a loss of control and crashed into the Atlantic in June 2009, killing all 228 persons aboard. The insight comes...
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Further Comment On Proposed Training Standard Invited
In laying out revised training requirements, the FAA appears to be clarifying some issues while slipping, sliding and reducing many training needs. Using the perverse logic of cost-benefit, if there were no accidents the need for improved training would vanish,...
Crash Investigation Reveals Gaps In Airline Safety System
The more officials from Colgan Air tried to distance themselves from, and blame, the dead pilots for the crash, the worse it appeared. Under occasionally sharp questioning by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators, it was apparent there was a vast...
Smart & Diligent: Good Attributes For Safety Board Chairman
The Obama Administration has hailed the importance of competence. True to the ethic, Member Deborah Hersman has been nominated by the White House to serve as the next chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In an Administration where cronyism and...
Airbus Develops Back-Up Speed & Altitude Displays
If the pitot probes on Air France flight 447 were clogged with ice, and that condition set in motion the sequence that led to the crash in the Atlantic of the airplane, the accident raises the question of independent redundancy and whether or not a different...
Operators Ahead Of The FAA
At the recent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing into the crash of an ATR-42 cargo plane, not all the news was bad. (See Aviation Safety Journal, “Crash Investigation Reveals Inconsistent Oversight”) NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman revealed that...
Crash During Attempted Go-Around Reveals Safety Shortcomings
The fatal crash of a business jet points to the need for decision points during landing that are analogous to those in takeoff. For example, there is V1 in takeoff, the critical engine failure speed at which there is enough runway remaining to stop the airplane....
Amendment Could Stifle Safety Regulations
A bill passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 223 to 196 contains a provision that could make it more difficult for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue new safety regulations for the aviation industry. Amendment 23 of the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act...
Failing The Test Of Transparence
Before the end of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hopes to have a new proposed regulation on flight and duty time posted for public comment. “Scientifically based” rules accounting for sleep debt, circadian rhythm disruption and other factors are...
Pilot License Fiasco
An airline pilot’s wallet-size license has far more implications for transportation safety than a driver’s license, yet state-issued drivers’ licenses are more resistant to tampering and forgery. Rep. John Mica (R-FL), ranking member of the House Transportation and...