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:

The article argues that a culture of fear surrounding emergency declarations is dangerous and calls for the FAA to adopt a no-prosecution policy or limit investigations for pilots who declare emergencies.
It discusses the calibration of Angle of Attack (AoA) indicators, noting they are advisory-only devices that pilots can customize for their specific needs and experience, despite initial manufacturer recommendations.
A reader corrects a previous article, clarifying that FAA Part 91 requires two statute miles visibility for alternate airport minimums for both precision and non-precision approaches.

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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.)