Wreckage of an Airbus Helicopters AS350 B2 is removed from New York’s East River after a March 11, 2018, crash.
Citing a “long history of concerns” about the safety of certain commercial sightseeing flights and other operations involving small airplanes and helicopters, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for a tightening of the regulatory requirements that govern their airworthiness, maintenance and operations.
During a virtual meeting last week, the NTSB issued six new safety recommendations to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), all aimed at developing national standards or regulations for a number of operations conducted under U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) Part 91, which regulates general aviation. Those operations include sightseeing flights in hot air balloons, parachute jump flights and “living history” flights in vintage aircraft.
The recommendations also target “shortcomings” in …
