AOPA Air Safety Foundation Cautions Against Jumping to Conclusions in Montana PC-12...

AOPA Air Safety Foundation Cautions Against Jumping to Conclusions in Montana
PC-12 Tragedy

FREDERICK, Md., March 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The AOPA Air Safety
Foundation on Tuesday warned that it's too soon to be making guesses about the
cause of Sunday's accident in Montana, saying the accident investigators are
still in the data collection phase, which is only the first in a long series
of steps toward determining a cause. The AOPA Air Safety Foundation is the
only organization in the United States dedicated solely to improving general
aviation safety.

"It's important to remember that except for the extremely rare single-point
catastrophic failure, aviation accidents are almost invariably the result of a
chain of events and decisions," said Air Safety Foundation President Bruce
Landsberg. "The National Transportation Safety Board is extremely good at
accident reconstruction, but it will take them months to find and then unravel
all the links in this accident's chain."

National Transportation Safety Board aviation investigations follow a
predictable arc. First, investigators collect all available information. That
is not limited to artifacts from the accident site. They speak to any
available witnesses, retrieve data on the weather at the time and location of
the accident, and learn what they can about the pilot and his or her
experience level. In high profile accidents such as Sunday's accident,
investigators may often hold briefings to discuss the information they have
collected. That information is then collated into a preliminary report.

"The briefings and the preliminary report are nothing more - or less - than a
listing of the facts collected," said Landsberg. "They give no relative weight
to any of the facts, nor do they draw any conclusions about possible causes."

Following the preliminary investigation, NTSB staff members begin a
painstaking review of all available evidence. They work with stakeholders such
as the aircraft's manufacturer, to draw on outside expertise.

At the end of that exhaustive process, usually six to twelve months after the
accident, the staff issues a factual report. The report is given to the Board
members themselves, who then determine the probable cause of the accident.

"It is the policy of the Air Safety Foundation and the Aircraft Owners and
Pilots Association not to comment on a specific accident until the NTSB has
issued at least its factual report, and preferably its final report, but we
will discuss general information about a type of aircraft or operation,"
concluded Landsberg. "Given the complexity of most accidents, we believe that
it's the only prudent approach, and urge others to do the same."

SOURCE Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

Chris Dancy of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, +1-301-695-2159,
chris.dancy@aopa.org