NTSB Most Wanted List

The NTSB's 2015 Most Wanted List

For this blog we will be looking at the National Transportations Safety Board’s most wanted. The new 2015 most wanted list was recently made public, and the main focus for the aviation industry is the “Loss of Control in Flight in General Aviation” and “Strengthen Procedural Compliance”.

            Aviation transportation continues to become safer and safer. However, flights in General Aviation continue to be a safety concern. According to the article, (Preventing Loss of Control in Flight in General Aviation) “between 2001 and 2011, over 40 percent of fixed wing GA fatal accidents occurred because pilots lost control of their airplanes”. I believe that the loss of control by GA pilots is a significant concern, and I am glad that the NTSB and FAA have realized it. The NTSB lists a couple reasons why GA pilots, more frequently, lose control of their aircraft. One of those reason is, “ a GA pilot does not have the same pilot proficiency requirement that a commercial airline pilot does. Another reason that GA pilots seem to lose control of their aircrafts more often is because, they usually have longer intervals between flights. The average GA pilot only flies around 35 hours per year (Davisson, 2006). In my opinion, this number is way to low, and that is a major reason why we are seeing a loss of control by GA pilots.  The statistics have shown that the most dangerous phases of flight are: Takeoff, Climbing, Approach and Landing (Statistics, n.d.). With GA pilots not flying as frequent as airline pilots, they need to critique and sharpen their skills on their own time. It is difficult for GA pilots to do this if they are not flying as often, and that contributes to the reason for loss of control. After the NTSB states the information in the “Most Wanted List”, they back up their data with two situations where GA pilots lost control of their aircrafts. The first one, a pilot lost control while trying a circle approach. The second was a pilot losing control of his aircraft while he was maneuvering at low altitude. 

            The NTSB is continuing their proactive approach, and they listed multiple recommendations for GA pilots. These recommendations are below, and they are hoping that these recommendations will help prevent the loss of control issues:

• Be prepared to recognize the warning signs of an impending stall, and be able to apply appropriate recovery techniques before stall onset.
• Be honest with themselves about their knowledge level of stalls, and their ability to recognize and handle them.
• Utilize aeronautical decision making (ADM) techniques and flight risk assessment tools during both preflight planning and inflight operations.
• Manage distractions so that they do not interfere with situational awareness.
• Understand, properly train, and maintain currency in the equipment and airplanes they operate. They should take advantage of available commercial trainer, type club and transition training opportunities.

With the NTSB trying to make the GA pilots aware of the issues, I believe that it is the responsibility of the pilot to make the industry safer. I believe that pilots need to continue to educate themselves, fly more hours so they can sharpen their skills, and make smarter decisions while in the air. If the pilots educate themselves and make smarter decisions, they will be able to help make the General Aviation industry safer.

            The second aviation concern that the NTSB listed on their “Most Wanted” list is strengthening procedural compliance in commercial aviation. The main point of the article is to make sure that; pilots follow procedures, are trained correctly and are trained to use these procedures. If the pilots do follow these procedures, every flight should be safe. I believe that the use of procedures, or the lack of, is an issue with the safety of commercial aviation. However, the correct use of procedures was not the only issue that occurred in the flights the NTSB mentioned in the “Strengthen Procedural Compliance” article. In the crash in Birmingham, the pilots were descending too quickly and that was the cause of the accident. Regardless, if the pilots were following procedures, and continued to descend to quickly the result was inevitable.

            In my opinion, I think that the recommendations that the NTSB came up with would help in the safety of commercial flights, but I think more could be done. If companies would spend a little extra time training their pilots during recurring trainings, and in flight simulators, I believe that these types of issues could be prevented. Yes, following the procedures will help with safety, but I think that more simulator training, that simulate these types of issues, could help improve safety even more.

References

Davisson, B. (2006, September 1). Is 35 Hours Enough? Retrieved February 7, 2015, from http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/proficiency/pilot-skills/is-35-hours-enough.html#.VNjQ1mTF9RU

Fact Sheet – General Aviation Safety. (2014, July 30). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=16774

Prevent Loss of Control in Flight in General Aviation. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl7_20

STATISTICS. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm

Strengthen Procedural Compliance. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl/Pages/mwl10_2

The Role of Human Factors in Improving Aviation Safety - Text Only. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazin