Safety Recommendation A-20-023

We note that, for each day that your pilots are on shift, they are required to complete and update their duty times in Survival Flight’s Pilot Flight and Duty Tracker form, which tracks pilots’ total days worked and flight hours accrued. We also note that this information is reviewed by the chief pilot and lead pilot at each base. Although we believe your actions thus far are responsive to this recommendation, we would also like to know if you have a procedure in place to ensure that actual—not just scheduled—duty time is tracked. Pending confirmation from you that such a procedure exists, Safety Recommendation A-20-23 is classified OPEN-- ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE.

-From Jack H. Windes, Director of Operations, Viking Aviation, LLC doing business as Survival Flight: We at Survival Flight wanted to provide you with an in progress review of where we are at with addressing the 6 points of recommendation that the board had for us following the release of the final investigation report into our HAA accident in Zaleski, Ohio on January 29, 2019 (NTSB/AAR-20,01).

We have aggressively embraced the need to address these recommendations and we are working diligently everyday to see each and every one to an end. Change has occurred in our organization's management as a first step at addressing these issues.

We want you to know that we care deeply about the safety of our flight crews and the public in which they serve. Your comments on just culture and the role that it needs to play in the safe operation of an HAA company has not been lost on our organization. Every decision we make is with consideration to how we can improve and prevent this from ever happening again.

Although much progress has been made, many of the items that are focus points in your 6 recommendations are not yet fully implemented. We wanted you to know that we are diligently working on completing these items. This in progress review is not meant to be a final report but rather, a conditions check and update to you as to our progress.

I anticipate having fully implemented changes that address all 6 of your recommendations no later than 1 October 2020.

Attached is a document entitled "NTSB update". In this document you will find all 6 of your recommendations in italics along with a corresponding update as to our progress in addressing each one. There are also additional Exhibits attached so that you can see the corresponding company policy/procedure as supporting documentation as to how we are addressing these recommendations.

In addition to the updates on addressing your recommendations, I wanted you to know that we have other parallel efforts ongoing in an attempt to mitigate risk and improve our culture beyond the 6 recommendations that you have. I am proud to tell you that Survival Flight has begun the process for CAMTS accreditation. We have also partnered with ECHO (Every Coast Helicopter Operators). ECHO is an organization made up of industry professionals who promote safety and cross talk between HAA companies. They have been a strong critic of ours in the past. We reached out to them and invited them to conduct an external evaluation as to our policies and our climate.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation—railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline. We determine the probable cause of the accidents and issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. In addition, we carry out special studies concerning transportation safety and coordinate the resources of the federal government and other organizations to provide assistance to victims and their family members affected by major transportation disasters.

The attached letter from the NTSB Chairman provides information about the NTSB’s May 19, 2020, report Helicopter Air Ambulance Collision with Terrain, Survival Flight Inc., Bell 407 Helicopter, N191SF, near Zaleski, Ohio, January 29, 2019, NTSB/AAR-20/01. The details of this accident investigation and the resulting safety recommendations may be found in the attached report, which can also be accessed at http://www.ntsb.gov. For more information about NTSB and our recommendation process, please see the attached one-page summary.

The NTSB is vitally interested in these recommendations because they are designed to prevent accidents and save lives. We would appreciate a response within 90 days of the date of this letter, detailing the actions you have taken or intend to take to implement these recommendations. When replying, please refer to the safety recommendations by number (for example, A-20-18 through -20). We encourage you to submit your response to ExecutiveSecretariat@ntsb.gov. If your reply exceeds 20 megabytes, including attachments, please e mail us at the same address for instructions on how to send larger documents. Please do not submit both an electronic copy and a hard copy of the same response.

All communications regarding safety recommendations will be stored by the NTSB and viewable by the public. Please do not send privileged or confidential communications in response to this/these recommendation(s). Responses marked as confidential or privileged (or similar designations) will be considered nonresponsive. If you have concerns about this protocol, please contact us at ExecutiveSecretariat@ntsb.gov.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation—railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline. We determine the probable cause of the accidents and issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. In addition, we carry out special studies concerning transportation safety and coordinate the resources of the federal government and other organizations to assist victims and their family members affected by major transportation disasters.