The federal transportation safety board will conduct a safety issues investigation into the causes of an alarming number of fatal crashes in Canada involving air-taxi operations — commercial flights with fewer than 10 passengers and crew.
The board noted that 175 persons have died in the air-taxi sector over the past decade, representing 65 percent of all commercial aviation fatalities.
Rather than investigate the cause of an isolated crash, as it usually does, the board will address a range of underlying issues that contribute to air-taxi accidents, including inadequate risk analysis, pilot decision-making, and weather.
Bill Yearwood, the safety board’s regional manager in Richmond, said in an interview Wednesday there are numerous inherent risks in the air-taxi business, which often operates in remote areas without access to the same services, including weather information and air-traffic controllers, as larger passenger airplanes.
“It will look at all the issues, all the accidents involving this group,” he said of the study, noting the terms of reference have not yet been determined.
Although 2014 has been a quiet year for the air-taxi sector in B.C., a pilot and two passengers died in an Air Cab Cessna 185 float plane crash near Potts Lagoon off Port McNeill last Oct. 24, 2013. A pilot and passenger also died when an Air Nootka de Havilland Beaver float plane crashed on Aug. 15, 2013, on the Hesquiat Peninsula.
“If you look back beyond the year, air-taxi does rear its head as the community that contributes more fatal accidents,” Yearwood said.
The safety board announcement comes almost five years after the Nov. 29, 2009, crash of a Seair Beaver float plane in Lyall Harbour, off Saturna Island, that killed six passengers, including a doctor and her infant daughter. The pilot and one other passenger survived with serious injuries despite the risk of drowning outside the aircraft due to the absence of a law requiring life jackets to be worn during flights.
A total of 22 persons died in four commercial float plane crashes in B.C. — two on water and two on land — from August 2008 and May 2010.
Since then, several float plane companies voluntarily introduced safety measures including mandatory wearing of life vests by passengers — notably, not Harbour Air, the largest operator — as well as pop-out emergency windows and improved door latches, and created the Floatplane Operators Association.
A federal law is expected to take effect soon that would require passengers and crew to wear a flotation device when boarding a seaplane or when operating on or over water and would require mandatory emergency underwater egress training for pilots of fixed-wing commercial seaplanes.
- Source: http://www.vancouversun.com
GATINEAU, QC, Nov. 19 2014 /CNW/ - In a speech yesterday to the Air Transport Association of Canada, Kathy Fox, Chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), announced that the TSB will launch an in-depth Safety Issues Investigation (SII) into the risks that persist in air taxi operations across Canada. The study will begin early in 2015.
"The air taxi sector of the aviation industry has seen 175 deaths over the last 10 years-65% of all commercial aviation fatalities-and we need to determine why," said Ms Fox. "We'll be analyzing historical data and case studies of selected accidents in Canada as well as occurrences from other nations. We'll also be engaging industry, the regulator and other stakeholders in the coming months to gain a full understanding of the issues affecting air taxi operations."
Air taxi operations, or Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) 703, refer to single and multi-engine aircraft (other than turbo-jet) that have a maximum certificated take-off weight of 19,000 pounds or less, and a seating configuration, excluding pilot seats, of nine or less. Over the past 10 years, the TSB has repeatedly drawn attention to critical safety issues that contribute to accidents. These findings include recurring issues such as inadequate risk analysis of operations, crew adaptations from standard operating procedures, pilot decision-making, and deficiencies in operational control, especially in self-dispatch operations.
An SII (also known as a Class 4 investigation) is broad in scope and involves looking at multiple occurrences in order to identify the underlying safety issues, and the Board may make recommendations to address any identified systemic deficiencies. The TSB will communicate its findings once the investigation is complete.
The TSB is an independent agency that investigates marine, pipeline, railway and aviation transportation occurrences. Its sole aim is the advancement of transportation safety. It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.
This news release and all previously published reports about air taxi safety can be found on the TSB website at www.tsb.gc.ca. Keep up to date through RSS, Twitter (@TSBCanada), YouTube, Flickr and our blog.
SOURCE: Transportation Safety Board of Canada
http://www.kctv5.com
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