The National Transportation Safety Board’s 2016 “Most Wanted” list of transportation safety improvements includes several items directed toward general aviation, with Board Chairman Christopher Hart saying that unlike commercial aviation, GA has been “stubbornly resistant to improvement.”
Topping the list of urgently needed safety improvements again this year is loss of control accidents in general aviation, which federal investigators note leads to an average of one aircraft accident every four days in this country. Better training, wider adoption of angle-of-attack stall awareness technology and improved cockpit situational awareness can all help stem the dangers of loss of control, the NTSB said.
The Most Wanted list this year also targets pilot fatigue and deadly distractions from electronic devices like smartphones and tablets in the cockpit.
And as Congress debates whether to relax medical certification standards for private pilots, the NTSB is now calling for tougher medical checks for public vehicle operators, including airline pilots – a stance we’re guessing the Air Line Pilots Association will strongly support given its public crusade against “medically unfit pilots” in the cockpit.
