NBAA Advocates for Business Aviation in Work With NTSB

Dec. 5, 2014

For years, NBAA has represented the business aviation community in working collaboratively with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to help enhance aviation safety. That tradition continued on Dec. 3, when an NBAA delegation spent several hours at NTSB’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Some 20 representatives from the Association toured NTSB’s upgraded facilities, including NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen; Doug Carr, NBAA’s vice president of regulatory and international affairs; Mark Larsen, NBAA’s senior manager of safety and flight operations and members of NBAA’s Board of Directors and Associate Member Advisory Council.

NBAA representatives toured the NTSB’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder labs, as well as the board’s facilities tasked with repairing electronic equipment, researching materials from accident scenes, and creating the post-accident event sequence animations.

Larsen noted that during his meetings with NTSB officials, the safety board indicated it is clearly interested in continuing the focus it has had in recent years on better understanding the operational concerns of NBAA Members and other general aviation operators in order to improve safety.

In addition to the work that the NTSB does with the Association’s professional staff, the safety board also routinely provides input to the NBAA Safety Committee when the committee develops its annual list of the Top Safety Focus areas for business aircraft operators.

NTSB members also participate frequently in NBAA meetings. Most recently, NTSB’s Acting Chairman Chris Hart delivered the keynote address at the 2014 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA2014) in Orlando, FL. Also, NTSB staff plan to participate in the NBAA Safety Committee’s annual risk-assessment meeting in January.

“NBAA maintains regular communication with NTSB members and staff, and the crux of those conversations involve finding common ground and working together on all aspects affecting the safety of our Members,” Larsen explained.