Crash-Resistant Fuel Systems
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), citing the fatal crashes of two Airbus helicopters, is calling on regulators to require the incorporation of crash-resistant fuel systems into two aircraft types.
In each accident, the crash itself was considered survivable, but occupants were killed as a result of post-crash fires caused by “an impact-related breach in the fuel tanks,” the NTSB said.
The NTSB noted that Airbus Helicopters has included crash-resistant fuel systems as standard equipment in new EC130 T2s delivered in the United States since July 2012 and that the company said in March 2015 that it would make the same change in new AS350 B3e helicopters delivered in the United States. The two models are the only Airbus Helicopter models currently in production and delivered in the United States, the NTSB said.
Airbus Helicopters also is developing a retrofit kit for other models of similar design, the NTSB said.
The agency …
