Includes Upping The Safety Of Part 135 Aircraft Flight Operations

The National Transportation Safety Board announced its 2019 – 2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements, during an event held at the National Press Club, Monday.

First issued in 1990, the NTSB Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements serves as the agency’s primary advocacy tool to help save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce property damage resulting from transportation accidents.

Among the 10 items on the NTSB’s 2019 – 2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements is improving the safety of Part 135 aircraft flight operations.

According to the NTSB, air tour, air medical service, air taxi, charter, and ondemand flights are not required to meet the same safety requirements as commercial airlines, leaving them susceptible to disaster. The board recommends that Part 135 operators implement safety management systems that include a flight data monitoring program, and they should mandate controlled-flight-into-terrain-avoidance training that addresses current terrain-avoidance warning system technologies.

The remaining nine items, several of which can pertain to aviation, include:

• Eliminate Distractions
• End Alcohol and Other Drug Impairment
• Ensure the Safe Shipment of Hazardous Materials
• Fully Implement Positive Train Control
• Implement a Comprehensive Strategy to Reduce Speeding-Related Crashes
• Increase Implementation of Collision Avoidance Systems in All New Highway Vehicles
• Reduce Fatigue-Related Accidents
• Require Medical Fitness – Screen for and Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea
• Strengthen Occupant Protection

“The 2019 – 2020 Most Wanted List advocates for 46 specific safety recommendations that can and should be implemented during these next two years,” said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt (pictured, above). “It also features broad, longstanding safety issues that still threaten the traveling public.
 
Sumwalt issued a call to action during Monday’s event. “We at the NTSB can speak on these issues. We board members can testify by invitation to legislatures and to Congress, but we have no power of our own to act," he said. "We are counting on industry, advocates, and government to act on our recommendations.  We are counting on the help of the broader safety community to implement these recommendations.”
 
There are 267 open NTSB safety recommendations associated with the 10 Most Wanted List items and the NTSB is focused on seeing 46 of those implemented within the next two years. The majority of these recommendations, roughly two-thirds of the 267, seek critical safety improvements by means other than regulation. Of the 46 safety recommendations the NTSB wants implemented in the next two years, 20 seek regulatory action to improve transportation safety.

(Source: NTSB news release. Image from NTSB YouTube video)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov