51fixer wrote:
NTSB is having a hearing in DC on Jan 10th regarding Reno Air Races and Airshow safety.
I wonder if the investigation phase of collecting data, and interviews on the accident is completed yet. The hearing is another way of getting input.
Then analysis will be performed. A report with Findings and Recommendations will be presented.
The FAA will then need to study the report and decide what changes need to be made in it's policy, Inspectors Handbook or possibly even the FARs.
The FAA can only make decisions based on the FARs, policies that are written out and what is in its Handbook.
If nothing has changed yet they are using the same info as last year to approve this years Race.
If they are waiting for new rules they won't make a decision until they get them.
With budget cuts and funding issues I wonder what priority this decision making process has at the FAA.
Looking at it logically, whatever rules and regulations were in place at the moment the accident occurred were obviously inadequate to cope with the physics involved allowing the accident aircraft to transition from its position in 3 dimensional space at the instant the failure occurred to its impact location.
This as well as other factors will be weighed heavily by the governing bodies and the insurance underwriters as the decision process continues toward a final conclusion.
Obviously, the same logic that defined the accident conditions will dictate what has to be done to prevent the same conditions from reoccurring. Most likely result of the FAA and NTSB final finding will be the enforcing of conditions that reflect the aforementioned logic.
At that point I'll be looking for the Reno race community to assess its ability to continue under the new "adjusted conditions".
The final outcome I believe is still very much in doubt. Personally I hope the final solution is workable first from the safety aspect and secondly for the Race community at large.
Dudley Henriques
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