NBAA Receives NTSB Recommendation on Single-Pilot Turbojet Training

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) will respond to a recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to NBAA, as a result of its investigation into the December 8, 2014, Embraer EMB-500 Phenom accident in Gaithersburg, MD, which resulted in the loss of life of all three people aboard the aircraft and three people on the ground.

The NTSB's recommendation to NBAA calls for the association to work with manufacturers and training providers of single-pilot turbofan airplanes to develop enhanced pilot-training guidelines focusing on risk management in winter weather operations, checklist adherence, and other pilot-performance issues identified in this accident investigation, with the ultimate intention to make the information available to the pilots who fly these airplanes.

"NBAA is committed to ensuring that safety is a cornerstone value in the tens of thousands of individuals and organizations within the business aviation community," said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "This recommendation is now the latest in a number of ways in which the association proactively and strategically serves to meaningfully enhance general aviation safety."

NBAA, through its Safety Committee, has focused on efforts to improve single-pilot safety over the last several years, including the development of the association’s Training Guidelines for Single-Pilot Operations of Very Light Jets and Technically Advanced Aircraft, training management guidelines for scenario-based training, and the annual NBAA Single Pilot Safety Standdown, among other resources geared towards single-pilot operations.

In addition to the single-pilot safety focused work, NBAA and its Safety Committee promote a commitment to core safety fundamentals, proactively identify emerging safety issues and develop mitigations to them, collaborate in government and industry safety-focused partnerships such as the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) program and General Aviation Joint Steering Committee (GA JSC), and actively work with local and regional business aviation groups and aircraft type clubs, among others; all of which aim to improve safety in both single-pilot and dual-pilot operations.

"NBAA and the larger business aviation community hold steadfast to the belief that one accident in business aviation is one too many," Bolen continued. "Our work to address this recommendation, and our other efforts with the NTSB, will continue to strengthen our working relationship with the agency, and bring enhanced value to its investigations."