AircraftOwner Online

    Some of the new notification requirements are as the result of advances in technology. For instance, if an aircraft has a glass cockpit, an NTSB Form 830 is required to be filed any time there is a “complete loss of information, other than flickering, from more than 50 percent of an aircraft’s cockpit displays know as: Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) displays; Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System (EICAS) displays; Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor (ECAM) displays; or other displays of this type, which generally include a primary flight display (PFD), primary navigation display (PND), and other integrated display.”

    If an aircraft has an Airborne Collision and avoidance System (ACAS), which issues “resolution advisories” either: “When an aircraft is being operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan and compliance with the advisory is necessary to avert a substantial risk of collision between two or more aircraft; or to an aircraft operating in class A airspace”, an NTSB Form 830 must be filed.

    The advent of composite propellers, along with the age of some wood and metal propellers, has resulted in a new requirement. An NTSB Form 830 must be filed in the event of the “release of all or a portion of a propeller blade from an aircraft, excluding release caused solely by ground contact.”

    Similarly, now that turbine engines have found their way into aircraft with a max gross weight of less than 12,500 pounds, the prior weight restriction has resulted in a new rule that, in any aircraft where there is “failure of any internal turbine engine component that results in the escape of debris other than out the exhaust path” the NTSB Form 830 must be filed.

    Other changes have been made due to “hot-button” topics which have been the subject of special emphasis by both the FAA. As many of you are aware, the FAA and the NTSB have been very concerned about “runway incursions” for the last two decades. There have also been numerous concerns about aircraft landing on the wrong surfaces. So, we now have two new reporting requirements for air carriers: they must make an NTSB Form 830 report of “Any event in which an aircraft operated by an air carrier lands or departs on a taxiway, incorrect runway, or other area not designated as a runway; or experiences a runway incursion that requires the operator or the crew of another aircraft or vehicle to take immediate corrective action to avoid a collision.”

    With the emergence of small jets flown by a two-pilot crew, we now have a new requirement to file an NTSB Form 830 any time that there is an “inability of any required flight crewmember to perform normal flight duties as a result of injury or illness.”

    When any of these situations, or the other matters listed in revised section 830.5, occurs, the “operator” of the aircraft is required to “immediately, and by the most expeditious means available, notify the nearest National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) office.”

      While some of my fellow pilots see this as nothing more than one more “power grab” by a government bureaucracy, it appears to me that most of these requirements make perfect sense, particularly in areas of emerging technologies which may not have experienced real life use in the
testing phase of their development.
It seems to me that it is important for the NTSB to know if a particular system or operation is resulting in a disproportionate number of failures, so that the matter can be investigated and repaired at the earliest possible opportunity.

    It is unfortunate that the old adage that Federal Aviation Regulations “are written in blood”, is, for the most part, true. Little of significance tends to change until passengers or innocents on the ground are killed. In this instance, it appears that the NTSB is being appropriately proactive in attempting to gather information about problems before someone is killed, rather than afterwards.

            The full text of the new reporting requirement can be found on the NTSB website at www.ntsb.gov.