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The Wolk Law FirmAttorneys Aviation Law Philadelphia
 

 

Big Brother is Watching ... Your Flight
The Dept. of Transportation is aware of every movement of every aircraft, including who is on the plane and it is availalbe to anyone with an Internet connection... [more]

As Close As It Gets
It’s Time For Us, The Passengers, To Take Control Of Aviation Security. The Northwest Airlines near terrorist disaster... [more] 

Repeat Lesson
Landing In Thunderstorms Is Dangerous. American Airlines learned yet again that attempting a landing in a thunderstorm... [more] 

Three Asleep In The Cockpit
The Captain, The First Officer, And The Department Of Homeland Security. All accidents and incidents have more than one cause... [more] 

Hudson River Tragedy
Same Old, Same Old - Inadequate Job by the FAA - Nine people dead and everyone is wondering how this could happen... [more] 

One Level Of Safety
An Elusive Goal For Commuter Airlines. There is only one level of safety. The problem is the experience level of the pilots... [more]  

Stop Faulting Crew
Stop Faulting the Flight Crew for the Crash of Colgan 3407! The flight crew was blameless for this crash and everyone investigating... [more]

Pilatus PC-12 Crash Stinks
Fourteen people killed in an aircraft that can only carry 10 has the stench of carelessness all over it. Most PC-12s can safely... [more] 

Why Turboprop Aircraft Shouldn’t Fly in Ice
The Continental 3407 crash reminds us of long-forgotten lessons. The reality is that large airplane manufacturers gave up... [more] 

Criminalization of Air Disasters
Nothing good comes of criminal prosecutions following air disasters. While such proceedings may satisfy the public’s zeal... [more] 

NASA Deep Sixes Important Safety Information
NASA spent $8,500,000 of our money to study critical safety failures in our aviation system; destroyed report... [more]

The Cure For Carburetor Ice
That Nobody In The Industry Wanted. Carburetor ice has been a problem since airplanes were first invented... [more] 

Change to Advisory Frequency Approved
All too often the pilot switches his primary radio to the advisory frequency without tuning in approach control on the second... [more]

De-Ice Or Anti-Ice
A Decision That Can Cost You Your Life. Aircraft wings and tails have forever been the collectors of enough ice to... [more] 

Illegal Double Engine Failure
NTSB Recommends More Pilot Training... [more] 

Integrity in Government?
How the Party System Has Run Amuck at the NTSB... [more] 

FAA Information Must Remain Public
The FAA in response to pressure from manufacturers has refused to divulge information provided both by the manufacturers... [more]

FAA Needs New Crew At The Top
It is time to overhaul the FAA from the top down, and bottom up... [more] 

NTSB Chairman Fails to Understand
Why Privacy Relating to Cockpit Voice Recorder Tapes Deters Safety, Rather Than Enhancing It... [more]

 
 

Commentaries :: General Commentaries

Illegal Double Engine Failure

NTSB recommends more pilot training

In a bizarre twist the NTSB, never at a loss for confusing the causes of accidents with how much it can do for aircraft manufacturers, has suggested that pilot training needs improvement to handle double engine failures at altitude.

First, double engine failures on multi-engine airplanes are illegal if a common cause can result in failure of more than one engine. In short, the airplane should never have been certified as airworthy if this could happen.

It turns out that some jet engines at high altitude, high power settings and cold temperatures can lock up and refuse to restart. This is not only a violation of the certification regulations for the engines, but also of the airplane if both of them in a two engine airplane can do the same thing at the same time.

Instead of coming down like it should have on the manufacturers of the engines and airplanes, the NTSB has instead recommended that a multi-disciplinary panel of experts be convened to discuss improving pilot training. That training already exists! It's called glider training because when two engines quit in a two engine airplane, the pilots are flying a glider!

What airplanes and engines are the NTSB referring to? The regional jets that increasingly carry more passengers to their destinations than the "real airplanes" that we used to fly in.

This NTSB recommendation, which ignores the seriousness of this life threatening problem and does not address its cause, is irresponsible.

My recommendation is that when both engines quit and you can't restart, the crew should thank the NTSB and the FAA for failing to exercise their legal obligations to protect those who fly in aircraft.

- Arthur Alan Wolk


 
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