New rules sought for news copters

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), having completed its investigation of last year’s four-fatality mid-air crash over Phoenix, has proposed new rules for news helicopters. NTSB wants pilots to focus on flying and let someone else do the news reporting. The recommendations from NTSB will now go to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which could adopt new rules applying to all news gathering helicopters nationwide.

Crews from several stations were covering a police chase when the electronic news gathering (ENG) helicopters of Belo's KTVK-TV (Ind.) and Scripps' KNXV-TV (ABC) collided in the air and both fell in flames into a city park. The crash killed KTVK pilot-reporter Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox and KNXV pilot-reporter Craig Smith and photographer Rick Krolack. No one on the ground was injured. It is believed to be the first time that two TV news aircraft collided in the US while covering a story.

The Safety Board's investigation revealed that the last time the two pilots coordinated their helicopters' positions or intentions to each other was about four minutes before the collision.  Additionally, when the accident occurred, the pilots were reporting the unfolding events on the ground, which diverted their attention away from other tasks such as maintaining their helicopter's stated position and altitude and scanning the area for potential collision hazards.
 
"A pilot's first and primary responsibility is to operate the aircraft in a safe manner," said NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker.  "Assigning someone else, other than the flying pilot, to perform the reporting duties in ENG operations and improved technology to assist pilots in distinguishing between the shape of airborne objects operating below them and the surrounding terrain will prevent accidents like this from occurring again," he added.   

The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was both pilots’ failure to see and avoid the other helicopter.  Contributing to this failure was the pilots’ responsibility to perform reporting and visual tracking duties to support their station’s ENG operation. Contributing to the accident, the NTSB concluded, was the lack of formal procedures for Phoenix-area ENG pilots to follow while covering news from the air.

As a result of the investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board has made 10 recommendations. They will now be forwarded to the FAA for potential action.

Here are the recommendations:

1) Require electronic news gathering operators to assign reporting responsibilities to someone other than the flying pilot unless it can be determined that the pilot’s workload remains manageable under all conditions.

2) Require electronic news gathering operators to use high-visibility blade paint schemes and high-visibility anticollision lights on their aircraft.

3) Develop standards for helicopter cockpit electronic traffic advisory systems so that pilots can be alerted to the presence of other aircraft operating in the same area regardless of their position.

4) Once standards for helicopter cockpit electronic traffic advisory systems are developed, require electronic news gathering operators to install this equipment on their aircraft. 

5) Host annual electronic news gathering (ENG) helicopter conferences by major metropolitan region to discuss operational and safety issues affecting all ENG operations as well as those issues that pertain to the specific region.

6) On the basis of the safety issues identified in the regional conferences discussed in Safety Recommendation, develop letters of agreement (LOA) for aircraft to specify minimum horizontal and vertical separation requirements.

7) Incorporate pertinent information from Helicopter Association International’s ENG [electronic news gathering] Aviation Safety Manual into an advisory circular detailing best practices for ENG operations.

8) Require the installation of a crash-resistant flight recorder system on all newly manufactured turbine-powered, non-experimental, nonrestricted-category aircraft that are not equipped with a flight data recorder and are operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 91, 121, or 135.  The crash-resistant flight recorder system should record cockpit audio (if a cockpit voice recorder is not installed), a view of the cockpit environment to include as much of the outside view as possible, and parametric data per aircraft and system installation, all to be specified in European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment document ED-155, “Minimum Operational Performance Specification for Lightweight Flight Recorder Systems,” when the document is finalized and issued. (Supersedes Safety Recommendation A0362)

9) Require all existing turbine-powered, non-experimental, nonrestricted-category aircraft that are not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder and are operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 91, 121, or 135 to be retrofitted with a crash-resistant flight recorder system. The crash-resistant flight recorder system should record cockpit audio, a view of the cockpit environment to include as much of the outside view as possible, and parametric data per aircraft and system installation, all to be specified in European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment document ED-155, “Minimum Operational Performance Specification for Lightweight Flight Recorder Systems,” when the document is finalized and issued. (Supersedes Safety Recommendation A0364)

10) Require all existing turbine-powered, non-experimental, nonrestricted-category aircraft that are not equipped with a flight data recorder and are operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Parts  91, 121, or 135 to be retrofitted with a crash-resistant flight recorder system. The crash-resistant flight recorder system should record cockpit audio (if a cockpit voice recorder is not installed), a view of the cockpit environment to include as much of the outside view as possible, and parametric data per aircraft and system installation, all to be specified in European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment document ED-155, “Minimum Operational Performance Specification for Lightweight Flight Recorder Systems,” when the document is finalized and issued. (Supersedes Safety Recommendation A0365)

RBR/TVBR observation: We would also note that a trend is emerging for stations to do deals to share coverage, especially video, from helicopters, since everyone tends to need footage of the same events. That’s being driven by economics, but should also enhance safety by having fewer aircraft trying to converge in the same airspace. Have an opinion on this article? Post your comment below.

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