The NTSB blames an overemphasis on ‘getting the job done’ for helping create the weak safety culture that led to a fatal crash.
By Linda Werfelman
An organizational culture that “prioritized mission execution over aviation safety” contributed to the 2009 crash of a New Mexico State Police Agusta A-109E that killed the pilot and the lost hiker he had just rescued from a mountainous wilderness area, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.
The NTSB, in its final report on the accident, cited as its probable cause “the pilot’s decision to take off from a remote, mountainous landing site in dark (moonless) night, windy, instrument meteorological conditions.”
The NTSB added that factors contributing to the accident included the organization’s emphasis on mission completion, as well as “the pilot’s fatigue, self-induced pressure to conduct the flight an…
