Transition training, mountain flying, and post-maintenance preflight inspections are among the topics of four National Transportation Safety Board Safety Alerts issued April 7.
The alerts highlight safety issues identified in recent accident investigations, provide general guidance on how to apply lessons learned from those accidents, and point to free educational resources for more information, the NTSB announced. Among the resources highlighted in the alerts are courses and other free educational materials from AOPA’s Air Safety Institute, which works closely with the NTSB and also monitors general aviation accident trends.
“We agree with the NTSB that these are areas both pilots and mechanics should be aware of,” said Air Safety Institute Senior Vice President George Perry. “The Air Safety Institute’s free educational resources include safety spotlights on Flight Planning and Preflight, Transitioning to Other Aircraft, and Survival Safety, which incorporate courses, quizzes, videos, and publications on these topics that address those issues. We hope anyone wanting to learn more about prevention strategies will take advantage of our free programs.”
The NTSB’s Understanding Flight Experience and Mastering Mountain Flying alerts underscore the importance of pilots seeking instruction specific to the aircraft and equipment they will be flying and in the skills and techniques to fly safely in mountainous terrain. Two more alerts, Pilots: Perform Advanced Preflight After Maintenance and Mechanics: Prevent Misrigging Mistakes, tackle the potential problems that may be discovered after maintenance.
The Safety Alerts come on the heels of the launch of the institute’s most recent free online course, Transitioning to Other Airplanes, which addresses the challenges of moving up to a larger, faster airplane or down to a smaller model as well as transitions between certified and experimental amateur-built aircraft and to models of similar size and performance. It also tackles issues involved in transitioning to new avionics, which the NTSB Safety Alert calls out as a potential hazard even among aircraft of the same model. The NTSB alerts also point to the institute’s Mountain Flying Safety Advisor and online course, among other resources.
