The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued four Safety Alerts to general aviation pilots and mechanics highlighting safety issues identified in several recent accident investigations.
Three of the safety alerts are geared towards pilots and address mountain flying skills and survival equipment considerations; transition training before flying an unfamiliar aircraft with different flight characteristics or avionics; and performing thorough and advanced preflight checks on aircraft that have just received flight control or trim system maintenance. The Safety Alert aimed at mechanics discusses flight control and trim system misrigging problems.
The four Safety Alerts are:
• Mechanics: Prevent Misrigging Mistakes
• Pilots: Perform Advanced Preflight After Maintenance
• Understanding Flight Experience
• Mastering Mountain Flying
Each Safety Alert includes accident summaries from recent and past investigations and the role the safety issue played in those accidents. The Safety Alerts also provide general guidance on how to apply the lessons learned from each accident and where pilots and mechanics can find free educational resources to learn more about prevention strategies.
Lessons learned from a close call
Later this month, the NTSB will release a Video Safety Alert titled, Airplane Misrigging: Lessons Learned from a Close Call, which highlights an inflight emergency that occurred near St. Louis in December 2014. The video features interviews with the two pilots who experienced reversed trim system control in a Cessna T182T and the mechanic who performed the maintenance. Both the pilots and the mechanic provide important insight to help other pilots and mechanics avoid becoming involved in a similar situation.
The four new Safety Alerts along with dozens of others released previously can be found at http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-alerts/Pages/default.aspx.
