The NTSB's Shift in Focus

Just last week the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a press conference where they released their top ten "Most Wanted" safety related issues in the transportation world. Many old list items still remain from years past, like the need to eliminate distractions. This particular hot topic led to many attempted changes in the Federal Air Regulations, most notably the current Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) to ban personal electronics on the flight deck, the final ruling of  which should be decided on some time this month.

The much more important topic, in my opinion, is the shift in focus on General Aviation (GA). For the past couple of years, the list item was broadly labeled  as "Improve General Aviation Safety." This year, the NTSB has decided to focus attention on the identification and communication of hazardous weather conditions. It is their belief that many GA pilots are flying into dangerous weather conditions with aircraft that are unequipped to handle them, or conducting flights in these conditions without even knowing they are there. They are certainly correct in this assumption. At work, I see pilots landing below IFR minimums, attempting to take off during a snow storm or flying in low level wind shear conditions. Just the other week, I saw someone with a Bonanza take off into icing conditions without a second thought.

Although it was necessary to shift their focus away from something so broad, I believe the focus should have been placed more on complacency than weather. Our weather reporting system is still very strong, and with good judgement and proper flight planning, pilots can learn to know when to make the dreaded 'no go' call. By focusing on training and reducing pilot complacency, we can show some of the more careless pilots that the catastrophic can happen to them.

There are many pilots who do proper planning and still, by the luck of the draw, find themselves in dangerous weather conditions. Perhaps this is the focus that the NTSB was trying to bring to light. With this shift in focus perhaps we will have more weather stations throughout the United States. I personally was very intrigued when I toured the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Station in Pontiac last October.  Perhaps this change in the NTSB's Most Wanted list will bring many job opportunities for potential meteorologists.

In conclusion, the shift in focus should have been put on complacency and training as opposed to weather reporting. This is, however, only my opinion.

As always, Fly Safe.