Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and engine safety are to head the US Federal Aviation Administration's list of priorities, according to Administrator Jane Garvey, unveiling the FAA's new "safety agenda".
Launching the new agenda in Washington on 14 April, Garvey, together with US Vice President Al Gore and transportation secretary Rodney Slater, promised to target the highest-risk areas, admitting that finite resources meant that lesser safety targets would be set aside. The FAA's action list includes:
terrain avoidance warning systems (TAWS) are to be mandatory by 2001 on all transport aircraft with more than six seats; compulsory turbofan engine inspection regimes at major servicing. Initially the airworthiness directive (AD) will cover only fan disks, but it will later include other high-energy rotating parts; runway incursion accidents; approach and landing accidents; weather related accidents.Garvey predicts that there will be TAWS proposals by June, and a draft AD on engine inspections by the year end. Meanwhile, the FAA is working with industry and NASA, using data analysis, to identify the causal factors in runway incursion, approach and landing and weather-related crashes.
In the cabin, Garvey says, the FAA backs safety initiatives requiring passengers to keep their seat-belts fastened while seated, and to limit carry-on luggage.
Source: Flight International
