…Other Safety Issues Raised…

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The topics for the rest of the list are familiar but it’s clear the NTSB is growing impatient with the FAA’s implementation of new safety initiatives. For instance, the NTSB has been asking the agency for eight years to tighten up standards to help prevent aircraft icing, but the lack of progress has resulted in another “unacceptable” rating. Ditto for short-term measures to combat (explosive) vapor hazards in aircraft fuel tanks, although the NTSB did note that long-term solutions, by way of mandatory flammability-reduction systems in new aircraft, appear to be on the way. The well-known TWA Flight 800 incident is just one of several exploding Boeing incidents that brought the fuel-tank issue into the spotlight. The board continues to ask for a requirement that audio, data and video recorders have minimum recording times of two hours to allow investigators to get more information on events leading up to a crash. Although some progress has been made, the NTSB still rates the effort as unacceptable. The NTSB also wants child restraints to be installed on airliners, but they aren’t required. Of course, little things like terrorists, stronger cockpit doors, armed pilots and airline bankruptcies may have caused some distractions at the FAA, but no one said it was going to be easy …

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