Friday, July 29, 2011

CANADA: Government puts off floatplane safety upgrades in favour of focus groups.

VANCOUVER - Canada's Transportation Safety Board says the federal government has set off a series of frustrating delays before improving floatplane safety.

A TSB report on a crash off B.C. coast where six people died, including a baby, recommended that pop-out doors be installed and that passengers wear personal-flotation devices.

Four months later, Transport Canada is saying it will hold a focus group with industry members to decide how to address the recommendations, and the results from that will go to an advisory council.

The board's Jonathan Seymour says their concern is that such a consultation process can be extremely lengthy and the current safety situation is inadequate.

The investigation into the Seair Seaplane crash off Saturna Island in November 2009 found that the six who died survived the crash, but couldn't get out of the submerged plane.

In the last 20 years, about 70 per cent of the deaths in planes that sank in the water were from drowning after passengers survived the initial impact of the crash.

Content Provided By Canadian Press.

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