NTSB advocates for more strict MET tower regulations
March 25, 2011, 09:28 pm
The National Transportation Safety Board has weighed in with its opinion regarding a Federal Aviation Administration proposal to implement measures to make meteorological evaluation towers more visible to pilots flying at low levels, according to AVweb.
Though the group agrees with the measures, it has emphasized that they are not enough and more needs to be done to reduce pilots' risks of collisions or visibility problems due to the obstructions.
"The NTSB is concerned that the application of the [FAA Advisory Circular] is voluntary, and, without mandatory application and marking requirements for METs, many METs will still be constructed without notice to the aviation community and will fail to be marked appropriately," the board said in a Safety Alert.
METs are intended to measure wind speed and direction, but the obstructions are sometimes erected just under the 200-foot vertical threshold and have resulted in at least three fatal accidents, the source says.
Meteorological towers and other vertical obstructions pose a serious hazard for pilots and could result in fatal crashes. As these accidents are sometimes unavoidable, life insurance for pilots is an essential assurance for the families of regular aviators, to provide for them should a pilot perish in an accident.
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