Hot Water

In response to your October editorial, Hot Water, what I took from these two tragic accidents was that the culture of fear surrounding declaring an emergency is killing people. The FAA needs to change its policy calling for an emergency declaration investigation to address this fear.

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A culture of fear surrounding emergency declarations, fueled by FAA investigation policies, is preventing pilots from seeking help and potentially endangering lives; policies should shift to a no-prosecution approach.
Angle of Attack (AoA) indicators can be calibrated for specific flight regimes (e.g., flaps-down approach setting) to optimize benefits like early stall warnings and precise landings, but initial manufacturer settings often provide a greater margin of safety for new users.
The article incorrectly cited FAR 91, stating alternate airport minimums for both precision and non-precision approaches as one statute mile visibility, when the correct minimum is two statute miles visibility.

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In response to your October editorial, Hot Water, what I took from these two tragic accidents was that the culture of fear surrounding declaring an emergency is killing people.

The FAA needs to change its policy calling for an emergency declaration investigation to address this fear. At best it should adopt a no-prosecution approach, or at least limit post-declaration investigation to factors only directly related to the incident and not a sweeping witch hunt. (A friend crashed after landing long and was subsequently cited for a faulty rear seatbelt. The seatbelt had nothing to do with the accident and the rear was unoccupied.)