There continues to exist a great deal of confusion in the
general aviation community about the reporting requirements after an aircraft
accident or incident. There is a huge
difference between an accident and incident, especially with respect to the reporting
requirements. An airman or operator who gets the reporting requirements wrong could become subject to a revocation or suspension action by the FAA unnecessarily.
Code of Federal
Regulations Part 49 section 830.5 mandates that a report of an aircraft
accident shall be filed with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
immediately or no later than within 10 days after the accident. In
comparison, a report is not required if the aircraft is involved in an incident,
unless the pilot in command or operator is specifically directed to file a
report by the NTSB.
An
accident, as defined in 49 CFR §830.2 means, “an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft that takes
place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of
flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers
death, or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage.” The regulations then go on to define “substantial
damage”. It is important to note that in the definition, the regulations specifically exclude certain types of damage to the aircraft
from qualifying as “substantial damage”.
For example, damage sustained to the landing gear, wheels, tires, flaps,
engine accessories, brakes, or wing tips of an aircraft are not considered “substantial
damage” for reporting purposes. To make the point clearer, if a pilot damages
the landing gear during the flight, then absent other more serious factors such
as serious injury or death, then an accident has NOT occurred and the pilot/operator is
NOT required to file a report.
Another
complicating factor that is prevalent in the reporting process is that pilots/operators
for some reason instinctively contact the FAA to report an accident.
The NTSB is the Federal agency charged with conducting aircraft accident
investigations in the United States. It
is the practice of the NTSB to delegate the investigative function for less
serious accidents within the general aviation segment of the industry to the
FAA. However, the NTSB is still
responsible for identifying the probable cause for any aircraft accident
regardless of who conducts the investigation.
For a pilot/operator to initially contact the FAA instead of the NTSB opens a
confusing can of proverbial worms because the FAA has the power to pursue enforcement
actions against pilots/operators for alleged infractions of the Federal Aviation
Regulations that they may discover while conducting an investigation. Pilots and aircraft operators take heed, if
the regulations require the filing of a report due to an aircraft accident,
then that report must go to the NTSB and not the FAA.
