"Avoid Unnecessary Speculation", NATA President Says
The National Air Transportation
Association (NATA) has issued the following statement
regarding media coverage of Saturday's mid-air collision between a
sightseeing helicopter and a Piper Saratoga flying in uncontrolled
airspace over the Hudson River.
"Following last weekend's tragic mid-air accident involving a
private airplane and an air tour helicopter, there has been
significant media focus on the types of operations involved and the
airspace in which the flights were conducted.
"The association and its members express our deepest sympathies
to those affected by this tragic accident," explained National Air
Transportation Association (NATA) President James K. Coyne. "While
events such as last weekend's are extremely rare, they do create an
intense focus on the operations involved and can, unfortunately,
lead to an environment ripe with speculation and
misinformation."
NATA is concerned with the intense scrutiny being placed on the
airspace in which general aviation aircraft operate in the New York
City area, as well as the correlations being drawn between the fact
that the helicopter involved belongs to a commercial air tour
operator and the recent report issued by the Department of
Transportation (DOT) Inspector General (IG) criticizing oversight
of on-demand operations, such as air tours.
The characterization of the airspace as devoid of regulation is
inaccurate. The airspace being referred to as "uncontrolled" only
indicates that there is no active radar-based control of flights.
Operations in this airspace are still subject to numerous
regulatory requirements.
While the IG report highlighted the differences between
regulation and oversight of the airlines and on-demand operations
it failed to acknowledge the necessity of differing regulations due
to the fact that on-demand operations comprise a vast number of
mission profiles and include nearly every size and type of airplane
and helicopter.
"There is much work to be done by the National Transportation
Safety Board investigators to determine the facts of what
happened," said Coyne. "Regulators and elected officials should
reflect upon the outcome of the investigation rather than react to
hypothetical scenarios." At this time there is no indication
from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that the FAA's
oversight of the air tour operator was in any way related to the
tragedy that occurred.
"Certainly the NTSB will look at all facets of the operation of
both the airplane and helicopter to determine what facts may be
relevant to the investigation. But, until the NTSB releases their
findings, I believe it is imperative that we follow the advice of
Mayor Bloomberg and avoid unnecessary speculation," Coyne
concluded.