NATCA REACTION TO FAA HUDSON RIVER TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS
EDDIE KRAGH, NATCA REPRESENTATIVE TO THE TASK FORCE AND A NEWARK AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER:
"I believe that the FAA's task force recommendations meet or exceed the NTSB's on every issue. We also developed ideas that the Board did not consider, such as new charts for VFR pilots. I am confident that on all the ATC specific recommendations, we identified procedures which are presently deficient. These procedures may eventually be found to be contributory to the accident, but they were the rules in place at the time of the accident, and they were followed to the letter on August 8. The task force exposed those deficient procedures.
"The altitude piece of these recommendations simply means that in the exclusion zone, transient aircraft must stay above 1,000 feet, leaving the lower stratum to the local aircraft (99.9% helicopters) that must climb and descend to the heliports or seaplane bases.
"I am satisfied that the FAA invited NATCA to participate, and considered our input at every level, inviting us to go beyond just the scope of reviewing the accident and letting us expand that scope into a comprehensive review of the local airspace and procedures. This task force was a model of how well the agency can move forward when it values the expert opinions of its employees. Next, we will be volunteering our services to work to implement the new procedures."
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