FAA Says It Will Determine "What Actions Are Needed"
The NTSB has determined that
the captain of Colgan Air flight 3407 inappropriately responded to
the activation of the stick shaker, which led to an aerodynamic
stall from which the airplane did not recover. In a report was
adopted Tuesday in a public Board meeting in Washington, additional
flight crew failures were noted as causal to the accident.
As a result of this accident investigation, the Safety Board
issued 25 recommendations to the FAA regarding strategies to
prevent flight crew monitoring failures, pilot professionalism,
fatigue, remedial training, pilot records, stall training, and
airspeed selection procedures. Additional recommendations
address FAA's oversight and use of safety alerts for operators to
transmit safety-critical information, flight operational quality
assurance (FOQA) programs, use of personal portable electronic
devices on the flight deck, and weather information provided to
pilots.
The first recommendation listed would have the FAA require
operators to review their standard operating procedures to verify
that they are consistent with the flight crew monitoring techniques
described in Advisory Circular (AC) 120-71A, “Standard
Operating Procedures for Flight Deck Crewmembers”; if the
procedures are found not to be consistent, revise the procedures
according to the AC guidance to promote effective monitoring.
Another would require that airspeed indicator display systems on
all aircraft certified under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 25
and equipped with electronic flight instrument systems depict a
yellow/amber cautionary band above the low-speed cue or the digits
on the airspeed indicator change from white to amber/yellow as the
speed approaches the low-speed cue, consistent with Federal
Aviation Administration Advisory Circular 25-11A.
The board also recommends that the FAA identify which airplanes
operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and
91K are susceptible to tailplane stalls and then (1) require
operators of those airplanes to provide an appropriate
airplane-specific tailplane stall recovery procedure in their
training manuals and company procedures and (2) direct operators of
those airplanes that are not susceptible to tailplane stalls to
ensure that training and company guidance for the airplanes
explicitly state this lack of susceptibility and contain no
references to tailplane stall recovery procedures.
At Tuesday's meeting, the Board
announced that two issues that had been encountered in the Colgan
Air investigation would be studied at greater length in proceedings
later this year. The Board will hold a public forum this
Spring exploring pilot and air traffic control high
standards. This accident was one in a series of
incidents investigated by the Board in recent years - including a
mid-air collision over the Hudson River that raised questions of
air traffic control vigilance, and the Northwest Airlines incident
last year where the airliner overflew its destination airport in
Minneapolis because the pilots were distracted by non-flying
activities - that have involved air transportation professionals
deviating from expected levels of performance. In addition, this
Fall the Board will hold a public forum on code sharing, the
practice of airlines marketing their services to the public while
using other companies to actually perform the transportation.
For example, this accident occurred on a Continental Connection
flight, although the transportation was provided by Colgan Air.
In a written response, the FAA said: "In the past year, the FAA
has driven significant improvements in pilot professionalism,
training, and background checks. We will soon publish proposed
federal rules to prevent pilot fatigue and further improve
training. Airline passengers deserve an expertly trained and well
rested crew, whether they are flying on a major or a regional jet.
Pilots must be trained for the mission they are flying and the FAA
already is working to further improve their professional
qualifications. The FAA will review and evaluate today's NTSB
recommendations to help determine what further actions may be
needed."