Helicopter Accident Digest

Plans to Enhance New York Airspace Safety Breathlessly Announced

With considerable fanfare – and positive press coverage – the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced earlier this month new rules for flying in New York City airspace. One of the most significant changes, if adopted, would divide the airspace into mandatory left and right altitude corridors that would separate aircraft flying over the Hudson River [...]

Portable Collision Avoidance Systems Offer Prevention of Hudson River Mid-Air

While Congressmen, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and accident investigators fulminate and fret over the safety of New York City airspace, a more direct response may involve a Portable Collision Avoidance System (PCAS). If the FAA were to write a PCAS specification and order its fitment onto general aviation aircraft, such an initiative could prove [...]

An Explanation Is Owed: Why Hasn’t Safety Technology Been Ordered?

Recently, additional safety recommendations for helicopter ambulances were piled on top of recommendations issued two years ago. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) can issue recommendations faster than the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can respond. (See Aviation Safety Digest, ‘Despite Recent Recommendations, Helicopter Ambulance Safety Remains an Elusive Enigma’) Here’s a good project for the Department [...]

Despite Recent Recommendations, Helicopter Ambulance Safety Remains an Elusive Enigma

When safety has been shortchanged, shout the alarm louder and to more agencies. That seems to be the strategy of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which issued a battery of 19 recommendations concerning helicopter ambulances on 1 September, adding to four recommendations previously issued to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), where promises for action [...]