January 26, 2007 NTSB: OSU King Air Crash Leaves Legacy Of Safety

Email this article |Print this article

By Glenn Pew, Contributing Editor

An NTSB recommendation resulting from its investigation of a January 2001 King Air crash that killed all aboard -- two crew and eight members of the Oklahoma State University basketball team -- has borne fruit. NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker praised the "admirable work" of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and other student athletic organizations as "above and beyond" for the creation of a 64-page "Safety in Student Transportation" guidance manual that has since June been distributed to some 9,200 presidents of colleges and universities, athletics directors and business and risk managers at educational institutions across the country. If officials implement the policies, "We will have gone a long way toward making something good come out of a tragic accident," said Rosenker. Developed by the NCAA in cooperation with the American Council on Education and with the assistance of United Educators Insurance, the publication addresses the NTSB's recommendation to "review athletic team travel policies and develop a model transportation policy." The NTSB has classified the safety recommendation with an evaluation of A-03-1 that identifies it as "Closed -- Exceeds Recommended Action."