NTSB Updates Reporting Requirements

Electronic screen failures, runway incursions, separated propeller blades and turbine engine debris are all represented on the list of new incidents requiring a report to the National Transportation Safety Board. In a rule that becomes effective March 8, operators will have to report: complete loss of more than half of an aircraft's cockpit displays (not including flickering); release of all or a portion of a propeller blade in flight (ground contact not included); damage to a helicopter's main or tail rotor blades (including ground contact) that results in major repair or replacement; incidents of turbine-engine component failures that result in the escape of debris (other than out the exhaust path); runway incursions involving an air carrier aircraft that require immediate corrective action to avoid a collision; and Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) advisories requiring action to avoid risk of collision with another aircraft while operating under instrument flight rules. Also on the list were incidents not normally associated with GA aircraft, such as any event in which an air carrier aircraft lands or departs on an incorrect runway, a taxiway or other area not designed as a runway; or ACAS alerts requiring action in Class A airspace.