A former military helicopter crash that killed six people two years ago is now being blamed on a lack of oversight by the FAA and the resulting inadequate inspections of the aircraft.
On June 22, 2022, MARPAT Aviation, a flight school based in West Virginia, was holding its annual Huey Reunion, an event that offered members of the public the opportunity to fly a Bell Helicopter UH-1B (or “Huey”) with a safety pilot. Members of the public could also ride aboard the helicopter for a smaller payment.
Most Read on IEN:
- 2 Former Union Presidents Among 7 Indicted in Boilermaker Scheme
- Boeing Workers Angry as NASA Switches to SpaceX
- Company Rebuilds After Tornado Ravages Factory in Nebraska
- $3M Hypercar Prototype Crashes During Test
The aircraft crashed after it hit power lines during an attempt to force land due a loss of engine power. NTSB Investigators blamed the loss of power on the failure of an engine component but said MARPAT Aviation probably would have caught the fatigue cracks and other engine damage if it had done more comprehensive inspections of the UH-1B helicopter.
Now the NTSB is laying the blame for the lack of proper inspections at the feet of the FAA, which it said provided “basically no oversight” of MARPAT while failing to provide guidance for inspectors to perform routine surveillance of operators with experimental airworthiness certificates.
MARPAT was awarded a special airworthiness certificate for Huey in the “experimental exhibition” category in December 2014. However, the NTSB said the inspection and maintenance requirements in place at that time were insufficient to ensure the airworthiness of the aircraft and operation.
When the FAA got around to revising the inspection requirements for former military aircraft 2015, MARPAT was exempt from implementing them since the requirements were not in effect when the helicopter’s most recent airworthiness certificate was issued. The NTSB recommended that other aircraft in the experimental exhibition category be maintained with the most recent iteration of the inspection standards, the latest of which is dated July 2017.
Back when MARPAT’s Huey was operating under a more restricted airworthiness certificate, the NTSB said the company was more rigorous in its inspections and maintenance. As a result, even though it was not required to continue using such standards for inspections, MARPAT’s decision to discontinue its previous inspection standards was partially blamed for the crash.
Click here to subscribe to our daily newsletter featuring breaking manufacturing industry news.
