Updated: 2:12 pm ET March 10, 201 Randy Babbitt, FAA Administrator announced that the FAA Air Traffic Organization is now managing under a safety management system to handle National Airspace System changes. This involves procedure modifications utilizing a new methodology for the FAA to “identify, assess and manage safety risks associated with changes to the National Airspace System.”

The Safety Management System is made up of four components:

• safety policy – how implementation is carried out, and functions, processes, and responsibilities.
  

• safety assurance reviews, evaluations, audits, inspections, investigations, and data tracking and analysis measuring safety
  

• safety risk management hazard identification and mitigation
  

• safety promotion. safety education and training

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 9, 2010

NTSB STUDY SHOWS INTRODUCTION OF ‘GLASS COCKPITS’ IN GENERAL
AVIATION AIRPLANES HAS NOT LED TO EXPECTED SAFETY
IMPROVEMENTS

Washington, DC — Today the National Transportation Safety
Board adopted a study concluding that single engine
airplanes equipped with glass cockpits had no better overall
safety record than airplanes with conventional
instrumentation.

The safety study, which was adopted unanimously by the
Safety Board, was initiated more than a year ago to
determine if light airplanes equipped with digital primary
flight displays, often referred to as “glass cockpits,” were
inherently safer than those equipped with conventional
instruments.

The study, which looked at the accident rates of over 8,000
small piston-powered airplanes manufactured between 2002 and
2006, found that those equipped with glass cockpits had a
higher fatal accident rate then similar aircraft with
conventional instruments.

The Safety Board determined that because glass cockpits are
both complex and vary from aircraft to aircraft in function,
design and failure modes, pilots are not always provided
with all of the information they need — both by aircraft
manufacturers and the Federal Aviation Administration — to
adequately understand the unique operational and functional
details of the primary flight instruments in their
airplanes.

NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman highlighted the role that
training plays in preventing accidents involving these
airplanes.

“As we discussed today, training is clearly one of the key
components to reducing the accident rate of light planes
equipped with glass cockpits, and this study clearly
demonstrates the life and death importance of appropriate
training on these complex systems,” said Hersman. “We know
that while many pilots have thousands of hours of experience
with conventional flight instruments, that alone is just not
enough to prepare them to safely operate airplanes equipped
with these glass cockpit features.”

Today, nearly all newly manufactured piston-powered light
airplanes are equipped with digital primary flight displays.
And the number of older airplanes being retrofitted with
these systems continues to grow.

“While the technological innovations and flight management
tools that glass cockpit equipped airplanes bring to the
general aviation community should reduce the number of fatal
accidents, we have not — unfortunately — seen that happen,”
said Hersman. “The data tell us that equipment-specific
training will save lives. To that end, we have adopted
recommendations today responsive to that data —
recommendations on pilot knowledge testing standards,
training, simulators, documentation and service difficulty
reporting so that the potential safety improvements that
these systems provide can be realized by the general
aviation pilot community.”

Based on the study findings, the NTSB made six safety
recommendations to the FAA: 1) enhance pilot knowledge and
training requirements; 2) require manufacturers to provide
pilots with information to better manage system failures; 3)
incorporate training elements regarding electronic primary
flight displays into training materials and aeronautical
knowledge requirements; 4) incorporate training elements
regarding electronic primary flight displays into initial
and recurrent flight proficiency requirements for pilots of
small light general aviation airplanes equipped with those
systems, that address variations in equipment design and
operations of such displays; 5) support equipment-specific
pilot training programs by developing guidance for the use
of glass cockpit simulators other than those that are
approved by the FAA as flight training devices; and 6)
inform the general aviation community about the importance
of reporting malfunctions or defects with electronic flight,
navigation and control systems through the Service
Difficulty Reporting system.

The complete safety study will be available at www.ntsb.gov
in several weeks.

March 5 – March 4, 2010 marked a significant milestone in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) efforts overseeing the safety of the nation’s commercial space transportation industry with the 201st FAA licensed commercial rocket launch. The vehicle carried into orbit an environmental satellite to improve weather forecasting and help monitor environmental events. FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation safety inspectors were present to monitor operations of the Delta IV booster.

Beginning in the late 1980s, all of FAA’s licensed launches have been completed without any fatalities, serious injuries, or significant property damage to the uninvolved public. This spotless record, spanning over two decades, underscores the total commitment to safe operations throughout the FAA’s full range of activities.

“With, the retirement this year of NASA’s Space Shuttle, the nation will now look to the commercial space industry to take on added responsibilities, including commercial human space flights and replenishing equipment and technologies at the International Space Station,” said FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation George Nield. “Americans can feel confident that FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation will be on the job monitoring and overseeing the safety of these new and exciting activities,” he added.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 5, 2010 Washington, DC – National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman today encouraged the sleep research and healthcare community to continue their efforts to educate transportation policy makers of the dangers of fatigue in all modes of transportation.

Speaking before the annual conference of the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, D.C., Chairman Hersman remarked that fatigue has been a concern for the Board since the creation of the agency in 1967 and it has been an issue on the Board’s Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements since the list was established in 1990.

“The work of the National Sleep Foundation and other organizations and individuals is critical to improving transportation safety policy,” said Chairman Hersman. “The NTSB is interested and willing to partner with you in developing a greater awareness of fatigue.”

Hersman highlighted a number of accident investigations across all transportation modes that included fatigue as the probable cause or a contributing factor to accidents. As a result, the Board has made safety recommendations that range from deploying fatigue detection systems to reduce the occurrence of accidents to installing electronic on-board recorders that collect and maintain hours of service data on vehicle operators.

“We can’t always prove fatigue as a cause of an accident, but the frequency with which we now routinely document the presence of fatigue-related factors in transportation operations is alarming,” Hersman stated.

Hersman remarked that while there are still no definitive tools to conclusively identify the degree to which a person is fatigued, the major challenge is to ensure that all those in transportation report to work rested and fit for duty — for their own safety and for the safety of those they are transporting.

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