The pilots of commuter and on-demand aircraft should be given the same training in avoiding controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) as their counterparts who fly helicopters, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.
In a series of recommendations to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the NTSB cited its investigation of the Oct. 2, 2016, crash of Ravn Connect Flight 3153, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan that struck a mountain in southwestern Alaska. The crash killed two commercial pilots and their sole passenger and destroyed the airplane.
Although Hageland Aviation Services, which operated the Ravn Connect flight, provided CFIT training, the NTSB said the training was “outdated and did not address specific CFIT risks Hageland pilots face while flying under visual flight rules [VFR] near Alaska’s mountainous terrain.”
Among other factors, Hageland aircraft were equipped with terrain awareness and warning systems (TAWS), but pilots routinely turned…
