May 23, 2013
As pilots across the United States prepare for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend – and, with it, the unofficial start to the summertime flying season – Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta made a personal appeal to the general aviation (GA) community to stay safe, and “make sure you’re ready – really ready – to fly.
“[T]his summer – this flying season – we need you to make a personal commitment to understand your strengths and limitations, to use a personal minimums checklist, and make sure you are ready each and together, we’ll reduce fatal accidents.”
Letter from FAA Administrator Michael Huerta to the GA community (227KB, PDF).
The administrator’s letter focused on themes established in a meeting held earlier this month between officials from the agency, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and representatives from industry groups, including NBAA, and comprising the General Aviation Coalition, which focuses on identifying and implementing collaborative methods to reduce the rate of general aviation accidents. Read about the General Aviation Coalition’s May 13 meeting with the FAA.
Following a significant decrease in the number of general aviation accidents over the last decade, Huerta noted that the number of accidents has remained “stubbornly flat” over the past two years.
NBAA is actively working with FAA officials in support of the agency’s goal to reduce the industry’s accident rate by 10-percent, to 1.0 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, by 2018.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.