Business aviation safety

would have given the pilots an earlier alert, ter TAWS performance standards to reduce adding a few seconds for them to take ac- the accidents resulting from CFIT is neces- tions to avoid the crash. sary.” To accomplish this, RTCA Special There have been no CFIT crashes by air- Committee (SC) 212 is tasked with develop- A look back at 10 years planes equipped with enhanced systems–ei- ing by next March helicopter TAWS protec- ther the enhanced GPWS from Honeywell, tion scenarios for VFR and IFR helicopters or terrain awareness and warning systems and, by March 2008, minimum operational of accidents and statistics (TAWS) from several other manufacturers. performance standards for helicopter TAWS. by Gordon Gilbert That statistic, combined with a barrage The first FAA/industry public meeting on of recommendations over the years from the SC 212 was held late last month. Over the last 10 years business aviation safety accidentally found two years after the crash. NTSB, prompted the FAA in 2001 to extend has improved immensely. During the same period, Starting July 1, 2008, all airplanes oper- the requirement for TAWS beyond Part 121 TCAS and Mode-S the entire aviation industry has been subject to a ating internationally will need to carry at airline transports to all FAR Part 91 and 135 While TAWS addresses the issue of air- number of equipment, avionics and procedural least one emergency locator transmitter, ac- turbine aircraft configured for six or more planes flying into terrain, traffic alert and requirements designed to reduce accidents. cording to a proposed standard from the In- passenger seats. collision avoidance systems (TCAS) are in- The question is, has safety improved because ternational Civil Aviation Organization The mandate became effective for new tended to help prevent airplanes from hitting (ICAO). The proposal, if enacted, also states airplanes manufactured after March 29, each other–both on the ground and in the of these requirements or have they been a finan- that beginning July 1, 2008, “automatic” 2002, and on March 29, 2005, for airplanes air. Since Jan. 1, 1996, TCAS has been re- cial, maintenance and procedural drain not justi- (406-MHz) ELTs must be carried on all in- built before March 29, 2002. Those com- quired on Part 135 turbine airplanes config- fied by the elimination or reduction of the ternational operations of both commercial pliance dates proved ironic for the crew of ured for 10 or more passenger seats. Part accidents they were intended to prevent? As for aircraft authorized to seat 19 passengers or a 1980 Learjet 35 that crashed into a 135 operators also have the option of equip- most complex things in life, the answers are not fewer and private aircraft with any number mountain on Oct. 24, 2004. According to ping with the more sophisticated TCAS II always clear and depend in many cases on the (required in larger aircraft). specifics of the situation. Unlike TAWS, TCAS is not required in One thing is clear: over the last decade, nearly most Part 91 turbine aircraft. But, starting all segments of business aviation flying have Jan. 1, 2005, turbine airplanes with an mtow exceeding 12,500 pounds or having between become safer (see chart on page 29). Corporate 19 and 30 passenger seats must have TCAS aviation (defined by safety analyst Robert E. II or ACAS (TCAS II with Change 7). Since Breiling Associates as all aircraft types flown for March 31, 2005, upgraded mode-S elemen- business by salaried crews) had its safest year in tary surveillance transponders have been re- 2003 in terms of accident rates (accidents per quired for operations in European Civil 100,000 flight hours) and its safety record was Aviation Conference airspace. better than the scheduled airlines’ in every year Meanwhile, the FAA has withdrawn its during the last decade. decade-old proposal to rescind its require- However, as the chart on page 29 also shows, ment for mode-S transponders and adopted a new rule that will end the hun- the rate of accidents involving turboprops has dreds of mode-S installation exemptions improved little during the same period, with acci- currently in effect.

dents involving specifically the Cessna Caravan L

A As a consequence of the proposal’s N R and the Mitsubishi MU-2 having a major effect on U O being withdrawn, beginning next March 1, J E T the statistics. As you will read later in this article, T Part 121 and 135 operators will no longer E Z A both models are now getting special attention G be exempted to fly without a mode-S O N E from safety investigators and the FAA in an effort R transponder. No new exemptions will be granted after that date, though mode-A or to stem their accident involvement. The nonfatal results of a Hawker 800XP midair with a sailplane in August: Throughout the article are charts intended to a case where safety equipment–in this instance a transponder in the glider–was not -C transponders can continue to be used until they can no longer be repaired, after provide additional background statistics to assist switched on, thus preventing the jet’s TCAS from doing its job. which they would have to be replaced with the reader in evaluating the justification for and a permanent mode-S unit. the usefulness of equipment and procedures that of passenger seats that obtain their certifi- NTSB investigators, the air-ambulance When the FAA in 1996 proposed to re- have been mandated over the last 10 years. cate of airworthiness after that date. flight crashed into Otay Mountain at 12:30 scind the mandate to install mode-S In fact, that is the purpose of this article–to International operations of commercial a.m., about two minutes after taking off transponders (except on aircraft equipped relate the accidents of some specific aircraft mod- airplanes authorized to carry more than 19 from Brown Field near San Diego. The with TCAS II), the agency was inundated els, accidents in general and types of accidents to passengers and that obtain their certificates of crew took off under VFR intending to pick with requests for exemptions, as operators equipment and procedural requirements enacted airworthiness after July 1, 2008, would have up their IFR clearance in the air. The two anticipated the mode-S requirement to help prevent future accidents. to be equipped with at least two ELTs, one of pilots and three aeromedical staff were would be withdrawn. which must be a 406-MHz unit. killed. Said the Safety Board in its May 23 Some safety experts believe that the po- Simultaneously, this article will also show Current ICAO standards call for ELTs final report: “The airplane was scheduled tential for midair collisions is raised in VMC how accidents over the last 10 years have led to only on airplanes operated on extended to have a terrain awareness and warning (conditions when most midairs occur) be- systems and procedures designed to provide overwater flights and on flights over desig- system (TAWS) installed in January cause there is no requirement for transpon- more data for investigators to better determine nated land areas where search-and-rescue 2005”–about three months before the ders on aircraft operating VFR outside Class the probable cause of accidents, as well as finding operations are a particular challenge. March 29 compliance deadline. A, B or C airspace. To date, the NTSB and accident locations and possible survivors more Congress (pushed by the lobbying efforts FAA have not addressed this. Maybe they quickly. A case in point is the recent adoption of of then avionics maker Sundstrand) was also Helicopter Safety Record will after they complete their investigation emergency locator transmitter requirements. responsible for the 1974 mandate for air- TAWS has not provided the same bene- into last month’s (nonfatal) midair between a lines to equip with ground proximity warn- fits for the rotorcraft sector. Currently, there VFR glider and an IFR Hawker 800XP. At ing systems (GPWS). But controlled flight are no requirements for TAWS on turbine press time, though, there was no official into terrain (CFIT) accidents continued until helicopters, but that could change before the word that absence of a transponder was a ELT Equipment the advent of enhanced GPWS in 1996. end of the decade. In June, the FAA asked factor in the accident. The 2004 mandate for emergency locator The technological upgrade in ground the RTCA to develop specifications for a One of the next major upgrades in the transmitters (ELTs) on transport aircraft re- proximity warning devices came after an helicopter TAWS. ATC system that promises to improve sulted from an act of Congress in response American Airlines 757 crashed in Cali, An RTCA review of helicopter accident safety, as well as increase operational effi- to a single fatal crash of a Learjet 35 in 1996 Colombia, in 1995. It hit a mountaintop on data from 1994 thru 2004 “indicates that ciency, is ADS-B. Although it will be sev- in IMC on approach to Lebanon Municipal its approach to the airport, killing 160 of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) is a eral years before its use is widespread Airport in New Hampshire. Searchers gave the 164 on board. Investigators believed major contributor to these accidents,” said across the National Airspace System, some up trying to locate the wreckage, which was that a more sophisticated warning device the organization. “Development of helicop- limited use so far appears to be proving its

28aaAviation International News • October 2006 • www.ainonline.com Accident Rate Comparisons (U.S. Fleet) Accidents per 100,000 hours value. In these limited evaluations, aircraft tions into several high-profile air-taxi acci- 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 equipped with ADS-B have had a lower dents in the last few years have revealed con- 1 accident rate than non-equipped aircraft, fusion for safety investigators and regulatory Corporate aviation 0.14 0.23 0.09 0.23 0.13 0.11 0.12 0.03 0.09 0.08 according to the FAA. officials trying to pinpoint who exactly was From 2000 through 2005, the rate of ac- the entity in command and control of the Fractional jets 0 000.66 0.26 0 0.52 0.14 0.53 0.14 cidents for ADS-B-equipped aircraft flight, as well as discovering FAR and DOT Scheduled airlines 0.25 0.29 0.27 0.29 0.29 0.22 0.21 0.29 0.12 0.17 dropped 49 percent, the agency said. These violations by non-certified businesses osten- 2 statistics come mostly from the experience sibly holding themselves out to be operators. FAR 91 business jets 0.23 0.33 0.32 0.37 0.31 0.24 0.34 0 0.34 0.32 of operators in Alaska, the only region in As a result of alleged regulatory viola- which ADS-B is used in the U.S. Soon, tions, the FAA early this year launched a se- FAR 135 business jets 0.55 0.81 0.79 0.56 0.31 0.89 0.54 0.77 0.77 0.47 however, the technology will be approved ries of so-called “operational control 3 Business aviation 1.7 1.4 1.2 1.4 1.28 1.1 1.08 0.95 0.91 0.73 for use in the Gulf of Mexico, primarily by workshops” on its proposed guidance policy offshore helicopter operators. on air carrier operational control, wet leas- Non-scheduled airlines 0.78 0.77 1.01 1.28 0.85 0.76 1.05 0.52 1.22 0.94 ing of charter aircraft, charter broker rela- FAR 91 & 135 tionships and the use of “fictitious” business 1.27 1.76 1.24 0.98 1.48 1.49 1.79 2.23 1.59 1.61 More Regs Do Not business turboprops Always Mean More Safety names, known as DBAs (doing business as). It might be assumed that the stiffer the FAA lawyers and flight standards spe- All air taxis 4.4 2.7 2.1 2.3 2.1 2.4 2.1 2.6 2.1 2.0 operational requirements, the safer the oper- cialists have met with charter companies to 4 ations. There is some evidence that does sup- discuss these issues, as well as the agency’s Regional airlines 0.41 1.63 2.26 3.79 3.25 2.33 2.56 0.63 1.52 2.01 port that assumption. For example, accident planned new charter Operations Specifica- General aviation 7.7 7.2 7.4 6.5 6.6 6.8 6.7 6.7 6.4 6.8 statistics indicate that Part 121 air carriers tions A008, which will replace Notice have the lowest accident rate of all segments, 8400.83, published last June. These issues 1. All aircraft types flown by salaried crews for business purposes. Source: Robert E. Breiling Associates 2. Business jets professionally and non-professionally flown. but that is not the case when accidents for surfaced after the Darby Aviation/Platinum 3. All aircraft types, owner flown. business jets flown under the more restrictive Jet Challenger 600 accident at Teterboro, 4. Regional airlines were re-classified in 1997 by the FAA causing rate increase. Part 135 are compared with accidents be- N.J., in February last year and following Historically, the major scheduled airlines have had the fewest number of serious accidents and the lowest rate (the falling business jets flown by salaried pilots other FAA enforcement actions against number of accidents per 100,000 flight hours), but in recent years corporate aviation has frequently surpassed the under Part 91 (see chart on this page). companies flying allegedly illegal charters. airlines. For example, the statistics here show that last year corporate aviation had the lowest accident rate, followed by its fractional segment, with the major airlines in third place. Air-taxi operations of both turbine and Why is that? In many respects the rates piston airplanes were ninth on the list, followed by regional airlines. Also in keeping with the trend, general of exposure at the most dangerous Addressing Icing Accidents aviation as a single group had the highest accident rate when compared with the other 10 segments shown here. times–takeoff and landing–are more fre- NTSB recommendations and FAA rule- quent for Part 135 operators than for Part 91 making often result from accident and inci- operators. However, the landing and takeoff dent investigations that indicate a trend or craft repair or modification, it is used to tion. The FAA directive followed an identi- frequency for air taxis is similar to that for commonality–either by the circumstances mandate pilot training–specifically, MU-2 cal AD from Transport Canada. fractionals, yet the latter have fewer inci- of the accident, operational certificate or pilots must receive icing training regularly. As a result of its investigation of the dents and accidents. type of aircraft. General aviation turbine Since that AD came out, there hasn’t been a Nov. 28, 2004, fatal takeoff accident in- For example, although the safety record airplanes over the last decade presented single MU-2 icing accident. However, non- volving a Challenger 601 in Montrose, of fractional operators between 1996 and some highly visible examples, such as the icing MU-2 accidents continue to occur and Colo., the NTSB in December 2004 issued 2005 (and so far this year) is exemplary, the number of accidents involving Cessna Car- perhaps the safety review, once put into ac- a special alert advising pilots of all aircraft FAA saw fit to require fractional operations avans and Mitsubishi MU-2s, particularly tion, will help stem these mishaps. about the detection and effects of ice accu- to fly under essentially the same safety re- in icing conditions. The FAA might take a slightly different mulation on the wing. quirements as Part 135 or meet an entirely In the case of the MU-2, there have been tack to reduce icing accidents in the Caravan In the aftermath of four dual flameouts new set of FARs–Part 91, Subpart K. two major FAA events in the past decade–a turboprop single. Pilot training is expected to involving P&WC JT15D-powered Beech- Has the accident rate changed signifi- special safety review that got under way last become a part of the FAA-approved airplane jets, the NTSB late last month issued an cantly since Subpart K went into effect in year to address all aspects of flying the twin flight manual (as it is for the MU-2), but at urgent recommendation to help prevent 2003? Not really. To date, there still has turboprop and a 2003 operational AD to ad- press time an AD was not in the works. Car- further incidents on Beechjets and a been no fatal accident involving a fractional, dress specifically MU-2 icing accidents. avan charter operator Linear Air in late Au- broader recommendation calling on the and the sector’s accident rate (incidents per More stringent training requirements for gust told AIN that its industry contacts FAA to work with engine and airplane 100,000 hours) last year was the best of all MU-2 pilots will result from the review of mentioned not only a mandatory Cessna OEMs to develop an ice detector for new segments of turbine-powered business avia- the turboprop twin. For Part 135 operators, icing training program but also that Cessna engines, as well as for retrofit. tion (see chart on this page). the additional requirements will become part has conducted Caravan icing tests and will Subpart K has served generally to equal- of their FAA-approved training syllabus. For release new performance charts and proce- Overruns Abundant ize operational requirements for fractionals Part 91 operators, which cover the vast ma- dures before year-end. Turbine business aircraft accidents in- with the limits of Part 135–such as runway jority of MU-2s, a special FAR will be Icing accidents in the U.S. and abroad in volving icing, loss of control and botched distance, look-see approaches, duty time promulgated through the usual rulemaking recent years involving the Challenger also instrument approaches in IMC have caused and weather-reporting requirements. Previ- process. The safety review is still under way led to an AD. Although the accidents were the most loss of life over the past 10 years, ously, fractional operators had been permit- so its results cannot be evaluated yet, but the attributed to the flight crew’s failure to en- according to data provided by safety analyst ted to operate under the less stringent 2003 operational AD is a different story. sure that the jet’s wings were completely Robert E. Breiling of Boca Raton, Fla. requirements of Part 91. That directive (AD 2003-22-07) was un- free of ice or frost before takeoff, the NTSB But one of the most numerous mishaps In addition to making fractional usual because instead of requiring an air- concluded that “for many years we have for private and commercial aircraft is the operators answer to a higher author- been dealing with the fact” that landing or aborted-takeoff overrun. There ity–which might or might not reduce aircraft such as the Challenger were 44 runway overruns last year involving accidents in this segment–the rule Percentage of Single-pilot Operations with so-called “hard wings [that transport aircraft, according to the Interna- change did accomplish one thing Part (by specific group) is, those without leading-edge de- tional Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associ-

135 operators had been craving that Source: Robert E. Breiling Associates vices] have been found to be more ations. The data served to underscore the had little to do with safety. Traditional King Air 300/350 12% susceptible to the effects of icing.” group’s crusade to get runway-end safety charter operators believe Subpart K King Air 200 32% The directive (AD 2005-04-07) areas or arrester beds on runways at all leveled the economic playing field. King Air 100 42% requires that operators of all U.S.- major airports worldwide. Before Subpart K, air-taxi operators Merlin 70% registered Challenger 600s, 601s Although there are many overruns that groused about alleged unfair competi- King Air 90 85% and 604s and Canadair Regional are not investigated by the NTSB because tion for customers because fractional Cheyenne 86% Jets incorporate flight manual re- they lack substantial damage or serious in- operators had less stringent opera- MU-2 89% visions to ensure that before take- jury, there have been some spectacular ones tional restrictions. Conquest I/II 90% off the “wing leading edge and that have caused fatalities and resulted in Turbo Commander 90% Even the toughest rules can some- 0 20 40 60 80 100 upper wing surface are completely new requirements for operators of both air- times be difficult to enforce when rule- free of ice, frost, snow or slush.” craft and airports. Except for the King Air 100, 200 and 300, the majority of operations makers are often relying on aircraft of other Part 23 turboprop twins are flown single pilot, and they have In addition to a visual inspection, Failure of ground spoilers to deploy owners and operators to follow the more accidents than those flown by two pilots. A similar analysis is the ADs require a “tactile means” caused at least six nonfatal overruns honor system. For example, investiga- not available for operations of single-pilot jets versus two-pilot jets. to identify potential contamina- Continued on next page u

www.ainonline.com • October 2006 • Aviation International Newsaa29 uContinued from preceding page comment period. involving early models of the Overruns are included in the Cruise Raytheon Premier I in the period few accidents involving frac- Flight time 56% between 2002 and 2004. These tional operators, such as the May Climb Accidents 3.7% Descent accidents led to an AD requiring 2, 2002, overrun of a NetJets Ci- Flight time 17% Flight time 9% Premier I operators to temporar- tation in Leakey, Texas. The air- Takeoff Accidents 6.7% Accidents 4.9% Approach ily replace existing landing-dis- plane touched down about 2,100 Flight time 1% Flight time 13% tance and landing-weight charts feet beyond the landing thresh- Taxi Accidents 18.1% Accidents 7.6% Landing in the AFM with charts that old, leaving just 1,875 feet in Flight time 3% Flight time 1% Accidents 10.6% The highest percentage of accidents occurs in the shortest phases of flight. For Accidents 48.5% reflect the increased landing dis- which to stop. The two crew and example, only about 1 percent of a total flight is spent in the landing phase, yet that tance without the lift-dump spoil- four passengers escaped injury, phase accounts for nearly 50 percent of accidents and incidents. Conversely, the ers deployed. Since Raytheon but the jet was destroyed in the lowest number of accidents and incidents (less than 4 percent) happen during cruise, the longest phase of a flight. Aircraft incorporated a fix, there post-crash fire, the only accident Source: Robert E. Breiling Associates have been no reported overruns to date in which a fractional air- involving Premiers. craft was completely destroyed. safety areas–are being installed at sions and reducing dangers to recorders (CVRs) are not re- The February 2005 crash of a The NTSB in June released the several airline and non-airline air- aircraft from airframe icing. Both quired in all turbine airplanes and Challenger 600 after it overran a probable cause, saying the “pilots ports. To date, EMAS has been of these items have been restated is unsatisfied with the quality of runway at Teterboro Airport in failed to land the aircraft at the credited with preventing injury several times over the years be- those that are installed. New Jersey got the ball rolling on proper touchdown point to allow and aircraft damage in four inci- cause of continuing accidents or In several business aviation ac- the government’s investigation adequate stopping distance.” dents, including a Falcon 900 incidents involving these factors. cidents the Safety Board ex- into improper charter operations. This and other overruns have overrun on July 17 at Greenville According to an NTSB state- pressed its frustration about the And the overrun last December led the FAA to take action to Downtown Airport, S.C. ment late last year, “Although the fact that a CVR was either not re- of a Southwest 737 at Chicago help prevent damage and in- FAA completed action on a num- quired or, if it was installed, failed Midway Airport led to a contro- juries from overruns. Part 139 What’s Old Is New Again ber of objectives to make ground to operate properly. For example, versial new requirement for com- (certified) airports are now man- Since its inception in 1967, the operation of aircraft safer, these during its investigation into a May mercial and Part 91K operators dated to construct 1,000-foot NTSB has investigated more than incidents continue to occur with 9, 2005, Sabreliner accident in when computing landing dis- safety areas or barriers at the 124,000 aviation accidents and is- alarming frequency.” which a birdstrike was implicated, tance; the so-called 15-percent ends of their main runways, sued more than 5,000 aviation rec- Said the NTSB recently, “The the Safety Board said the CVR rule, which was scheduled to go where possible. Some airports ommendations (mostly to the FAA’s anti-incursion system pro- recording “was of such poor qual- into effect before year-end. have had to shorten the length of FAA). Since 1990 the Safety vides warnings to air traffic con- ity it was useless for accident in- However, compliance with the runways to accommodate safety Board has highlighted its most ur- trollers but not to flight crews, a vestigation purposes.” 15-percent requirement has been areas. There is no requirement gent issues on its “Most Wanted” fact that reduces the amount of The NTSB decried the lack of delayed since some business avia- for safety overruns or barriers at list of safety improvements. time that pilots have to react to an recorders on a Learjet that was tion trade groups challenged the most general aviation airports. Keep in mind that the Safety impending incursion.” involved in a fatal crash on Dec. notice as being ill-conceived and Engineered Materials Arrest- Board has no regulatory authority The NTSB’s recommendations 23, 2003. The airplane was not illegal because it didn’t go through ing Systems (EMAS)–designed and the FAA does not have to and statements not withstanding, equipped with a CVR or FDR and the notice of proposed rulemaking for runways that do not have adopt its recommendations. Nev- the number of incursions has been federal regulations did not require process, complete with a public enough space for 1,000-foot-long ertheless, the agency has acted declining steadily, according to them. “This is another example of favorably on more than 84 percent FAA figures. Agency statistics where a recording device–whether of them. Still, some in Congress show that there were 383 incur- a voice recorder, data recorder or a Accident Exposure–Single Pilot vs Dual Pilot don’t believe that’s a high enough sions in 2001 and 324 last year. video recorder–would have greatly U.S. business turboprop aircraft–all operations percentage and have introduced However, the NTSB believes helped investigators determine 10-year period (1996-2005) an amendment to the NTSB reau- these figures are incorrect be- what happened,” the Safety Board Single Dual Total thorization bill “to make the FAA cause it claims not all incidents said. “An opportunity to improve pilot pilot explain why the Safety Board’s are being reported, and some are aviation safety was lost here.” Most Wanted recommendations being reported by ATC as “oper- The NTSB specifically refers Fleet size 32,333 19,306 51,639 have not been implemented.” ational errors.” to lack of possibly important data Number of accidents 281 108 389 Of the remaining 16 percent of In 1997, as a direct result of the because the CVRs weren’t work- recommendations not enacted, crash of TWA Flight 800 a year ing in the investigations of the Oct. Percent of accidents 70.5% 29.5% 100% many were initially published 10 or earlier, the NTSB added to its 9, 1999, incident in which an Percent of fleets involved in accidents 0.87% 0.56% 0.75% more years ago and the NTSB has Most Wanted list preventing explo- Amway Falcon 900B experienced reiterated several of them as new sive mixtures in transport aircraft a series of serious pitch oscilla- Percent of fleet vs crew size 63% 37% 100% accident investigations raise old is- fuel tanks. The Safety Board cur- tions and the May 21, 2000, fatal sues that have not been resolved to rently describes the FAA’s action as accident of an Executive Airlines Ratio of exposure 1.55 1 – the Safety Board’s satisfaction. “acceptable, progressing slowly.” BAe Jetstream 31 that apparently Source: Robert E. Breiling Associates There are currently two rec- Most Wanted recommenda- suffered fuel starvation. According to Breiling’s accident statistics for multi-engine business turboprops between ommendations that have been on tions that the FAA responded to The NTSB also believes that 1996 and 2005, an aircraft crewed by one pilot had 1.6 times the probability of being involved in an accident as an aircraft flown by a two-pilot crew. Last year, 80 percent of the Most Wanted list since its in- in a manner acceptable to the current requirements for retaining turboprop-twin accidents involved single-pilot operations, but only 63 percent of the ception nearly 17 years ago: NTSB in the last 10 years include information recorded on a CVR do turboprop fleet was flown single pilot. stopping runway/taxiway incur- reducing accidents from wake not go far enough in ensuring that vortex turbulence (added in 1995, pertinent data is available after re- removed in 1998), improving portable accidents or incidents. Be- Business Jet Accidents commuter airline safety (added in cause of this longstanding concern, Crew-and-passengers vs crew-only 1995, removed in 1996) and pilot the Safety Board in 2002 asked the background checks (added in FAA to require operators to deacti- Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total Percent 1996, removed in 1998). vate the CVR immediately after an Total No. of Accidents 10 16 16 24 17 22 21 16 22 20 184 100 incident or accident and to require a CVRs Not Good Enough? functional check of the device be- Accidents w/pax on board 7 8 12 18 10 11 8 9 14 16 113 61.4 Flight data recorders (FDRs) fore each flight of the day. have gotten better–both in the In February last year, partly in Accidents w/crew only 3 8 4 6 7 11 13 7 8 4 71 38.6 quality of their structure and the response to the NTSB’s urgings, Source: Robert E. Breiling Associates quantity of their data–as the result the FAA published a notice of pro- Comparing crew-only business jet flights (such as deadheading and positioning) with passenger-carrying business jet flights over of accident investigations in the posed rulemaking to improve both the 10-year period 1996 through 2005, Breiling’s research shows that passenger-carrying flights were involved in about 61 period from 1996 to 2005 and the the quality and quantity of infor- percent of the accidents, while around 10 percent crew-only flights were involved in approximately 39 percent of the accidents. constant prodding by the NTSB. mation from CVRs and FDRs. This means, according to Breiling, crew-only flights have some 5.5 times the potential of being involved in an accident as passenger-carrying flights. The Safety Board is also disap- The rule, still in the proposed pointed that cockpit voice Continued on page 32 u

30aaAviation International News • October 2006 • www.ainonline.com uContinued from page 30 FAA estimates of time to complete to its Most Wanted list a require- mandatory on all transport-cate- crew is at fault in more than 75 stage, has been criticized by CVR retrofits, the overall costs of ment for cockpit video recorders gory airplanes regardless of their percent of all accidents. This figure NBAA and the National Air the upgrades and the number of on all transport aircraft. To date number of seats. That leaves a new seems to indicate that pilots always Transportation Association. small businesses impacted.” those recommendations carry an category of airplanes off the have the ability to ignore, over- The associations claim the Six years ago, the Board rec- “unacceptable response.” hook–very light jets operated come or bypass systems, rules and agency failed to conduct even a ommended that the FAA require Under Part 135, CVRs are re- under Part 91 or Part 135. procedures designed to prevent ac- cursory review of the feasibility CVRs, in lieu of flight data quired on turbine-powered air- While this article has shown cidents. As long as pilots make the and economic impact of the rule recorders, in smaller turbine-pow- planes or helicopters with a that some recent rules, procedures final decision in the cockpit, it is for aircraft operated under Parts ered aircraft frequently employed passenger configuration of six or and systems have helped to prevent unlikely that there will ever be a 135 and 91. “This oversight has in Part 135 operations. And about more and for which two pilots are accidents, the NTSB for many system, rule or procedure that is resulted in substantial flaws in the three years ago, the NTSB added required. Under Part 91, CVRs are years has determined that the flight 100-percent foolproof. J

FINDING ACCIDENT STATISTICS ONLINE Here are Web links to sev- eral sources of accident statis- tics that are typically updated daily. In the U.S., the only offi- cial source for probable cause- data for serious accidents and incidents is the NTSB. How- ever, many less serious general aviation accidents and inci- dents in the U.S. are investi- gated by the FAA. Air Accidents Investiga- tion Branch–UK equivalent of the NTSB and Canada’s Transportation Safety Board: www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/home/ index.cfm. Aircraft Crashes Record Office–A record of accidents in all segments of aviation, as well as links to accident statistics, including accident history by aircraft model: www.baaa-acro.com/. AviationSafety Network– Accident and hull-loss history for most corporate jet models and an accident database starting in 1943 covers more than 12,200 airplane acci- dents:http://aviationsafety.net /index.php. FAA–Preliminary accident data for the most recent 10-day period: www.faa.gov/data_ statistics/accident_incident/ preliminary_data/. NTSB–Preliminary, factual and final reports for all serious aviation accidents and inci- dents from 1962 to the present: www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/month.asp. PlaneCrashInfo.com–A record of accidents in all segments of aviation and links to accident databases. http://planecrashinfo.com/ index.html. Robert E. Breiling Associ- ates–Considered the premier source of business aviation accident and incident data and analyses, including cus- tom reports: www.breiling inc.com/specific.htm. Transportation Safety Board of Canada–Similar to the U.S. NTSB:http://tsb.gc.ca/en/ index.asp. –G.G.

32aaAviation International News • October 2006 • www.ainonline.com