Many aviation safety advocates are aware of the National Transportation Safety Board’s “MOST WANTED LIST” which identifies the most pressing and important safety improvements needed in aviation safety. Notably, most of the recommendations are the result of actual investigations.
Presently the list highlights six critical items requiring improvement. They are (1) reduce dangers to aircraft flying in icing conditions: (2) improve runway safety; (3) require image recorders [in the cockpit]: (4) reduce accidents caused by human fatigue; (5) improve cockpit resource management; and, (6) improve safety of emergency medical flights.
The NTSB tracks the actions being taken in response to the recommendations and categorizes the action as: (1) being assessed, classification to follow; (2) acceptable response, progressing timely; (3) acceptable response, progressing slowly; or, (4)unacceptable response. Remarkably all six items on the present list are assigned to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for action and all six are categorized as “unacceptable response.”
While some of the recommendations require time, money and technological advances, many are common sense suggestions which can and should be implemented immediately. For example, what justification does the FAA have for not passing new regulations to monitor flight crew and air traffic controller fatigue? And why haven’t revised icing criteria been applied to currently certificated aircraft. I suspect that one of the reasons for inaction is the continuing conflict that lies at the heart of the FAA mission which, on the one hand, calls for the agency to be a watchdog over pilots and aviation operations and, on the other hand, requires them to promote aviation and the agenda of those they are policing. The other reason is undoubtedly a lack of resources, both money and personnel. We can only hope that the new administration will be more responsive because the present situation is frankly, “unacceptable.”