Transcript 2015 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements: An Overview Thomas E. Zoeller Managing Director Maryland Regional Aviation Conference – June 6, 2015 Ocean City, Maryland.

2015 Most Wanted List of
Transportation Safety Improvements:
An Overview
Thomas E. Zoeller
Managing Director
Maryland Regional Aviation Conference – June 6, 2015
Ocean City, Maryland
2015 Most Wanted List
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Overview
• Critical changes
needed in all modes
to reduce accidents
and save lives
• Awareness and
dialogue among
industry, elected
officials, public
• Board-approved
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History
• First developed in 1990 –
just top 10 recommendations
• Shaped by Board to
encompass broader
safety issue areas
• Guided annually by
Board Order
• Covered more than 30 areas
over 15 years
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2015 MWL Areas
• Distraction
• Trucking
• Impairment
• Mass Transit
• Helicopters
• GA Loss of Control
• Positive Train
Control
• Medical Fitness
• Rail Tank Cars
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• Procedural
Compliance
End Substance Impairment in
Transportation
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End Substance Impairment in
Transportation
• Since 2000, 160,000 motor
vehicle deaths
• Growing safety problem in
aviation
• NTSB investigations consistently
find causal in accidents across
modes
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Enhance Public Helicopter Safety
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Enhance Public Helicopter Safety
• NTSB investigated more than 130
public helicopter accidents since
2004
• Critical emergency services,
medical, police, rescue…
• Not generally covered by FAA safety
regs – operator responsibility
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Implement Positive Train Control in
2015
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Implement Positive Train Control in
2015
• Can stop many rail accidents
before they happen
• Mandated by Congress by 2015
after Chatsworth
• PTC systems still not
implemented nationwide as
required
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Improve Rail Tank Car Safety
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Improve Rail Tank Car Safety
• National energy needs have increased
tank car flammable liquid transport
exponentially
• Most commonly used DOT-111 model
is not up to the task
• NTSB has investigated numerous
accidents: ruptures, spills causing
fires, explosions, environmental
damage
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Strengthen Commercial Trucking
Safety
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Strengthen Commercial Trucking
Safety
• In 2012 alone – 4,000 deaths, 100,000
injuries
• NTSB has long called on regulators to
improve operator, driver, and vehicle
oversight
• Multifaceted issue involving vehicles,
companies, drivers, and oversight
agencies
• Collaborative effort
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Make Mass Transit Safer
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Make Mass Transit Safer
• Mass transit is growing – faster than
population and highway travel
• Must constantly be monitored and
improved for safety
• Catch small problems before they
become big ones, and provide extra
layers of protection against
disasters
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Prevent Loss of Control in General
Aviation
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Prevent Loss of Control in General
Aviation
• GA Pilots and passengers die at
alarming rates while commercial
aviation accidents are rare
• From 2001 to 2011, over 40% of
fixed wing GA fatal accidents
caused by pilots’ loss of control
• GA pilot proficiency requirements
are less rigorous than airline pilots
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Require Medical Fitness for Duty
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Require Medical Fitness for Duty
• Some pilots, vessel and train
operators, and drivers are not
medically fit to perform safely
• Certification processes for safetycritical personnel vary widely across
modes of transportation
• NTSB has investigated numerous
accidents – vehicle operator medical
condition contributed to cause of crash
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Strengthen Procedural Compliance
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Strengthen Procedural Compliance
• Crews not complying with air carriers’
standard operating procedures: flying
stabilized approaches, making required
callouts, maintaining sterile cockpits, and
monitoring critical flight parameters
• Sometimes procedures themselves aren’t
good enough and crew training is
inadequate
• Management and pilots must put safety
first and collaborate on creating a safety
culture of compliance
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Additional Advocacy Activities
• Preliminary insight – 2016 MWL
• Upcoming NTSB events
• Areas of potential interest
• Opportunities for collaboration
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• For more information…
NTSB.gov
• Or follow us…
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