AEROSPATIALE ALENIA ATR 42-320Empire Airlines

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Require that role-playing or simulator-based exercises that teach first officers to assertively voice their concerns and that teach captains to develop a leadership style that supports first officer assertiveness be included as part of the already required crew resource management training for 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and 91 subpart K pilots.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Prohibit all 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and 91 subpart K operators of pneumatic deice boot-equipped airplanes from dispatching or deliberately operating these airplanes in known freezing rain or freezing drizzle of any intensity, unless the airplane manufacturer has demonstrated that the airplane model can safely operate in those conditions.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Review the approved pilot, dispatcher, and flight follower training programs and procedures for all 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, 135, and 91 subpart K operators and require revisions to the programs and procedures, as necessary, to include standardized training and aircraft-specific information to educate pilots, dispatchers, and flight followers of the dangers of flight operations in freezing precipitation and of the differences between ground deicing considerations and in-flight icing operations.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Develop a method to quickly communicate information regarding the number of persons on board and the presence of hazardous materials to emergency responders when airport emergency response or search and rescue is activated.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Amend Advisory Circular 150/5200-30C to include guidance on monitoring and ensuring the operability of emergency response and mutual aid gates during winter operations.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Require all operators of Avions de Transport Régional Aerospatiale Alenia ATR 42- and ATR 72-series airplanes to retrofit the airplanes with an aircraft performance monitoring system if they are not already so equipped.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Require all Avions de Transport Régional Aerospatiale Alenia ATR 42-series airplanes to be equipped with a flap asymmetry annunciator light if they are not already so equipped.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Define and codify minimum simulator model fidelity requirements for aerodynamic degradations resulting from airframe ice accumulation. These requirements should be consistent with performance degradations that the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies have extracted during the investigations of icing accidents and incidents.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Once the simulator model fidelity requirements requested in Safety Recommendation A-11-46 are implemented, require that flight crews of all aircraft certificated for flight in icing conditions be trained in flight training simulators that meet these fidelity requirements. Such simulation training should emphasize the following: (1) cues for recognizing changes in the aircraft’s flight characteristics as airframe icing develops; (2) procedures for monitoring and maintaining appropriate airspeeds in icing conditions, including the use of icing airspeed reference indices; and (3) procedures for responding to decaying airspeed situations, stall protection system activation, and early stalls that can occur without stall protection system activation.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Require that Avions de Transport Régional (ATR) 42-series airplanes operating in the United States incorporate a revised stick pusher activation angle of attack (AOA), such that the stick pusher activates before the stall AOA in the presence of airframe ice accretions.

TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Evaluate all U.S.-certificated transport-category airplanes equipped with stick pushers to ensure that the stick pusher activates at an angle of attack that will provide adequate stall protection in the presence of airframe ice accretions.

TO THE EUROPEAN AVIATION SAFETY AGENCY: Require Avions de Transport Régional (ATR) to revise the stick pusher’s activation angle of attack (AOA) on ATR 42-series airplanes to ensure that the stick pusher activates before the stall AOA in the presence of airframe ice accretions.

TO THE EUROPEAN AVIATION SAFETY AGENCY: Evaluate all European Aviation Safety Agency-certificated transport-category airplanes equipped with stick pushers to ensure that the stick pusher activates at an angle of attack that will provide adequate stall protection in the presence of airframe ice accretions.