NTSB Recommends Stick-Pusher Changes

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In a safety recommendation stemming from its investigation of a 2009 crash in Texas, the NTSB said on Tuesday the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency should require changes in the stall-warning system on ATR-42 series airplanes. Both agencies should also evaluate all other transport-category airplanes to ensure that the stick pusher “activates at an angle of attack that will provide adequate stall protection in the presence of airframe ice accretions,” the safety board said.

In the 2009 cargo flight, which caused no fatalities but destroyed the aircraft, the crew failed “to monitor and maintain a minimum safe airspeed while executing an instrument approach in icing conditions, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at low altitude,” the NTSB said in its report. Several contributing factors were cited, including the crew’s failure to follow published standard operating procedures, the captain’s decision to continue with an unstabilized approach, poor crew resource management, and fatigue.

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