NTSB Releases Probable Cause of January 2019 Helicopter Crash Written 22 May 2020

Aviation International News reports that “on Tuesday, the NTSB found that a helicopter air ambulance operator’s ‘inadequate management of safety’ was the probable cause of the fatal crash of a Bell 407 in Zaleski, Ohio, on Jan. 29, 2019.” The NTSB “found that Survival Flight’s routine failure to use preflight risk assessment had become ‘normalized’ and that employees said management pressured them to accept flights rejected by other helicopter air ambulance services due to weather.” The NTSB renewed its call for “mandated safety management systems (SMS) for all Part 135 operators and faulted the FAA for ‘inadequate oversight’ of Survival Flight’s risk-management program.” NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said, “We keep asking that safety management systems be required of Part 135 operators because we keep seeing crashes the systems are designed to prevent. ... This has to change, and it is past time for the FAA to implement our recommendation.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)