Says Many Are Already Being Acted On

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) reports it endorses the spirit of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) safety recommendations for Part 135 operators announced at Tuesday's hearing.

As Aero-News reported, the NTSB hearing adopted a final report on the probable cause of an accident at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey involving a Canadair Challenger CL-600 aircraft (file photo of type, below). The February 2005 accident sparked a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation of air charter operational control that has led to the pending release of new guidance for the industry and revised standards for operators.

"The NTSB’s recommendations are generally reasonable, and we are pleased to note that several are already being acted upon by the FAA and industry," said NATA Vice President of Government and Industry Affairs Eric R. Byer.

Specifically, Byer pointed to the revision of Operation Specification A008 that establishes more clearly the FAA’s expectations for air carriers with regard to operational control and explained, "Unfortunately 'operational control' has been a vaguely defined concept for decades. The new A008 spells out what is and is not acceptable in a way that will help operators avoid future pitfalls.

"In our opinion, the NTSB’s recommendation related to operational control will be satisfied by implementation of the new A008."

The recommendation regarding formal training of all cabin personnel has also recently been addressed by the industry. As part of the FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) for Parts 135 and 125, formal proposals for the training of cabin service specialists were supported by industry.

"It is our understanding that the FAA is making progress on issuing this and other ARC recommendations as proposed regulations," Byer stated.

NATA encourages operators to take any necessary actions to ensure that all passengers are properly secured by seatbelts, as currently required by regulations. The NTSB issued a recommendation related to accessibility of seatbelts, because some passengers on the accident aircraft were not wearing seatbelts.

FMI: www.nata.aero