NTSB Most Wanted

There comes a time, when repeated problems with similar themes are no longer tolerated as acceptable risk and action needs to be taken. For any correction to occur, there needs to be someone (organization, individual, etc.) to take action against the matter. In this discussion, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is the "someone" who is actively taking action on the problem. The two problems that will be discussed are General Aviation's ineffective use of identifying and communicating hazardous weather, and the issues faced with helicopter operations, both of which fall under the NTSB's most wanted list.

The issue revolved around helicopter operations is that regardless of weather, time of day, or stressful environments, helicopter operators are of high demand. High demand requires more operations in not ideal conditions, thus increasing the margin for error. For example, if a helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) pilot is responding to a medical emergency, weather becomes a lesser factor in the "go no-go" decision process, because other outside factors are now involved. Such as, severity of emergency and available supplemental aid for the victim. These types of flights are recipes for disaster, because the combination factors like stressful flights environment, poor weather, and time management all contribute to operational failure.

I believe that with the increasing utilization of helicopters over the past few decades, this problem is very significant and important to discuss, as we can simply see by the NTSB placing it as number one on it's Most Wanted List for 2013. We have seen through the ages that the helicopter was a daring device used relatively little compared to the airplane, but has grown to be a very productive system in the aviation community. With it's increasing use and high demand, the NTSB is doing the right thing to formulate a solution to the growing problem, because if helicopter operations continue to increase but there is nothing done about the underlying issues, we may face greater casualty rates that otherwise could have been prevented.

Both of these topics create foreseeable job opportunities. In regards to the general aviation issue, the efforts that are being put forth by the NTSB discussed in the "What Can be Done" section will require a lot of man-power from the management side of the house. Potential jobs that can be created are management and pilot positions that deal with pilot training, more so for "pilots to be" (student pilots in training), since a lot of this occurs in general aviation where proficiency training is not continuously conducted. A few examples of the jobs being created are people who will update the required knowledge in weather briefing expected from upcoming pilots. Additional flight instructor's will need training on how to train their students to meet these expectations, so those individuals who are training the instructors (typically chief instructors) will see an increase in job opportunities.

The helicopter safety issue will create job opportunities for pilots, manufacturers, and management. The NTSB's plan is to incorporate key stake holders of these departments into formulating a more safe operating environment. Jobs in the manufactures field will be focused around the development of new safety management functions onboard the aircraft. Management will focus heavily on developing/improving new safety risk management procedures and operations. With each of these changes comes with repetition to instill good habits for when the situation arises. This brings us to the increase in pilot demand, because an increase in flight hours typically requires more pilots; test pilots, instructor pilots, and simply just pilots, so that pilots are not pushing either their limits or the minimum limits set forth in the FARs. Correcting both of these safety issues will be a positive experience for both the job economy and the safety and welfare of the aviation community and its occupants.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain, I made a boo-boo. I thought we were going to Paris, France, not Paris, Idaho."

Are you kidding me?!

As a fellow pilot and fairly frequent flyer of major airlines, I understand people make mistakes. However, there's a difference between a mistake and simply not caring about your job. Knowing the behind the scenes work and preparation that goes into flying an aircraft and all of the advanced automation in today's society to help prevent incidents/accidents, I firmly believe that aircraft such as a Boeing 747 and 737 have no excuse for landing at the incorrect airport. The reason these incidences occur is because of poor task management and pre-flight preparation. For example, on August 9, 2012, United Flight 4049, a Saab 340 turboprop landed at an airport 10 miles away from its intended destination in West Virginia. Below is a picture of the flight path the aircraft took.

United Flight 4049 flight path

As you can clearly see, the pilots immediately started flying in the wrong direction. Whether the pilots were flying VFR or IFR, it doesn't look as though they were prepared with an adequate flight plan that would help them estimate time, distance, and course heading, because it looks as though none of those items were lined up with the intended destination.

When incidences like this occur, it creates several hazards and complications for everyone involved, from passengers to management. Passengers need to find an alternate way to their destination, which may increase they payout and obviously their intended arrival time. Some of you may think, "why is this such a big deal? Can't they just take-off again and land at the intended airport?" Well, yes they can...sometimes, but for an aircraft as large as a 737, sometimes that's not feasible because there may not be sufficient runway length at the incorrect airport. As stated in the following article, http://www.forbes.com/, this was the case for flight 4013, a Southwest 737 that landed at the wrong airport in Missouri. When the plane landed it was just feet away from the edge of the cliff and this was after the pilot executed an emergency braking procedure. After the hard landing, the aircraft was unable to take-off again because the runway was not long enough for the aircraft with the amount of weight on board. Passengers were forced to find other means of transportation to their destination, which was 9 miles away.

This mistakes happen more often than people realize, but usually it goes unnoticed, because it involves smaller aircraft not carrying passengers. Although wrong airport landings are preventable, there are some situations that are more difficult to place blame than others. In reference to flight 4013, these pilots seemed to have everything correctly prepared for. They knew their destination, they contacted the tower, but unfortunately the controllers didn't catch that their decent rate didn't match up with their distance from the airport. Also, the pilots may have known the general airport environment, but both airports only had one runway, both of very similar magnetic bearing. In these types of situations, I would consider this an isolated incident, but for flight 4049, the Saab 340, I feel there were many issues that could have been corrected that could have help prevent that incident, starting with the pre-flight preparation.

After hearing that Southwest suspended their pilots, I applauded them for making a decision both safe for themselves and the pilots. Yes, the pilots made a mistake, but aside from this incident, maybe they are exceptional and dependable aviators. So, I believe Southwest's decision to only suspend the two pilots shows that their management trusts their employees and is willing to put in the extra effort to fix their mistakes, rather than just "cutting the dead ends." The pilots are very lucky that they were only suspended after making Southwest dish out as much money to fix the problem. I am glad that their management's decision was a carefully thought out one, not an impulse out of angry.

Thank you for reading and please stay tuned for further blogs of aviation current events.

Who am I?

Who am I?

My name is Joshua Scott Barabe, I am a senior at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) majoring in Aviation Flight Technology. I was born in Phoenix, AZ and moved around majority of my childhood, but I claim that I am from Hollywood, FL where I created most of my childhood memories. I am a middle child, I have an older sister named Lindsey, 26, and a little brother named Bryce, 9. My father, Mark, works for Alpine Power Systems as a battery technician, my step-mother is self-employed in the mortgage industry, and my mother is currently a care-giver for a few local residents in the Southeast Michigan area. I am in love with an extraordinarily talented actress, dancer, and singer named Amber Lawson who is also a senior at EMU.

I am a Midshipman in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) program based out of the University of Michigan. With the combination of my major and my involvement in the Navy, I have been offered a Naval Flight Officer (NFO) position, which will begin shortly after I graduate in April 2014. As an NFO, I am required to commit to a minimum of eight years in the Navy, but if I enjoy my career and get to see the world, I have intentions of staying in at least 20 years so I am eligible for retirement.

Aside from school and flying I have many hobbies. I am very intrigued with guns (both pistol and shotguns) and often go skeet and trap shooting on my open Sundays. I have never been hunting, but it sounds like a fun experience, as long as it's not deer hunting. I also love the water and really enjoy swimming, which inspired me to earn my SCUBA certification this past semester. I have completed 4 SCUBA dives and I love every bit of it. Martial Arts is also a hobby that I unfortunately fell out of, I really want to get back into it, but currently it is too much money. Lastly, I enjoy skiing, I do not go very often, but when I do I love it.

All of the information I discussed above are all a important to me and what defines me as an individual. I love flying, the Navy, my family, my hobbies, and my girlfriend, because without these things I would not be as happy as I am today.