Many think that, after it completes an investigation, the NTSB can order a stop to the dangerous practice that it determined was the cause of the aviation accident. Not so. The NTSB has no regulatory power at all. The only thing the NTSB can do after an investigation is make a safety recommendation and hope that the FAA
safety recommendations
EMS Helicopter Safety: NTSB Pushes the Envelope
There’s little question that EMS helicopters are the most dangerous aircraft in the sky. EMS helicopters have a fatal accident rate 6000 times that of commercial airliners. Flying EMS helicopters is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. In fact, according to the Washington Post, only working on a fishing boat is riskier. …
NTSB to FAA: Ground the Zodiac Fleet
Today the NTSB issued an "urgent" safety recommendation, asking the FAA to immediately ground all Zodiac CH-601XL aircraft. The reason: their wings tend to fall off. So far, six have broken up in flight, causing 10 fatalities. The NTSB suspects that the design of the aircraft induces "flutter"– an aerodynamic phenomenon that can destroy an aircraft…
More on the NTSB and Air Ambulance Accidents
A reader of this post concerning air ambulance accidents asked, “Can the FAA really get away with ignoring the NTSB?" The answer, to date, is "yes." And there’s nothing the NTSB can do about it.
The whole reason the NTSB exists is to learn from accidents and make safety recommendations so that similar accidents won’t happen again.
NTSB: Air Ambulances Drag Down 2008 Accident Statistics
Well, that seems to be what the National Transportation Safety Board said today when it commented on the preliminary accident statistics for 2008.
The NTSB’s comment:
The 2008 accident statistics reveal a mixed picture. . . We are particularly concerned with the spike in fatalities in on-demand air charter operations. There’s a lot of room
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The NTSB’s Limited Role After an Aircraft Accident
Some people think that the National Transportation Safety Board is the final authority over an aviation accident — that the NTSB acts as the accident "police." They think that, in the end, the NTSB will catch the one responsible for the accident and make that person answer for what happened. But that’s just not the case.
It’s true that…