NTSB Safety Recommendations A-10-159 through -168

[NTSB Press Releases <ntsbpressreleases@xxxxxxxx>]

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                   NTSB SAFETY RECOMMENDATION
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National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594

Month Day, Year

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the National Transportation Safety Board recommends that the 
U.S. Forest Service:
 
Develop mission-specific operating standards for firefighter 
transport operations that include procedures for completing 
load calculations and verifying that actual aircraft 
performance matches predicted performance, require adherence 
to aircraft operating limitations, and detail the specific 14 
Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 regulations that are to 
be complied with by its contractors. (A-10-159) 

Require its contractors to conduct firefighter transport 
operations in accordance with the mission-specific operating 
standards specified in Safety Recommendation A-10-159. (A-10-
160) 

Create an oversight program that can reliably monitor and 
ensure that contractors comply with the mission-specific 
operating requirements specified in Safety Recommendation A-
10-159. (A-10-161) 

Provide specific training to inspector pilots on performance 
calculations and operating procedures for the types of 
aircraft in which they give evaluations. (A-10-162)

Require a hover-out-of-ground-effect power check to be 
performed before every takeoff carrying passengers from 
helispots in confined areas, pinnacles, and ridgelines. (A-10-
163) 

Review and revise policies regarding the type and use of 
gloves by firefighting personnel during transport operations, 
including but not limited to, compatibility with passenger 
restraints and opening emergency exits. (A-10-164) 
Review and revise your contract requirements for passenger 
transport by aircraft so that the requirement to install 
shoulder harnesses on passenger seats provides improved 
occupant crashworthiness protection consistent with the seat 
design. (A-10-165) 

Require that helispots have basic weather instrumentation that 
has the capability to measure wind speed and direction, 
temperature, and pressure and provide training to helitack 
personnel in the proper use of this instrumentation. (A-10-
166) 
Modify your standard manifest form to provide a place to 
record basic weather information and require that this 
information be recorded for each flight. (A-10-167) 

Require all contracted transport-category helicopters to be 
equipped with a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data 
recorder or a cockpit image recorder with the capability of 
recording cockpit audio, crew communications, and aircraft 
parametric data. (A-10-168)

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http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2010/A-10-159-168.pdf


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The complete recommendation letter is available on the Web 
at the URL indicated above.

The letter is in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and can 
be read using the Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later from Adobe 
(http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html). 
	
An archive of recommendation letters is available at 
http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/letters.htm. 
Electronic versions of letters may or may not include 
enclosures; however, related publications, accident 
briefs, and aviation accident synopses may be found 
on the NTSB website.

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