Safety board seeks tougher oversight of air tour operators
Federal safety officials are making another push for stricter oversight of air tour operators and hot-air balloon rides after several deadly crashes in recent years.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday asked the Federal Aviation Administration to raise safety requirements for the passenger-carrying operations, which fall under less restrictive regulations than airlines in areas such as pilot training and maintenance.
“When people step on board an aircraft as paying passengers, they have the right to trust that the flight will be operated as safely as possible,” safety board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the end of a board hearing on the matter.
Some airplane and helicopter tours operate under rules for “general aviation,” a category that mostly covers private planes not used to carry paying passengers. Safety board members said some of the operators exploit loopholes in FAA regulations to avoid stricter oversight.
The FAA said in a statement that it “has a number of initiatives under way to improve the safety” of passenger-carrying general aviation operations, including requiring air tour operators to have safety-management programs and requiring balloon pilots to pass medical exams.
Under current FAA rules, air tours are subject to more inspections than other private planes; tours must take off and land at the same airport; and operators must have drug and alcohol testing programs for employees. Board members said those steps aren’t enough and that some tour operators evade closer monitoring by how they describe their flights.
Board members cited a 2018 helicopter tour over New York City that was using an exception granted for aerial photography when it crashed, killing all five passengers. They also noted that in the 2017 crash in California of a stunt plane that killed the pilot and passenger, the aircraft was operating under an instructional-flight status.
“This is one of the most egregious examples of exploiting a loophole, in my opinion,” board member Jennifer Homendy said of the California crash. She said the operator, Sky Combat Ace, advertised an “adrenaline rush package” and other thrillseeking rides. “Does that sound like a flight school?”
The company did not immediately comment.