NTSB Recommends FAA Modify TAWS Inhibition Rules in Recommendation A-18-015
The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a safety recommendation urging the Federal Aviation Administration to update terrain awareness and warning system standards to prevent indefinite alert inhibition.
Safety recommendation
The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a safety recommendation urging the Federal Aviation Administration to update terrain awareness and warning system standards to prevent indefinite alert inhibition.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released Recommendation A-18-015, identified under case number ANC17MA001. This directive is addressed specifically to the Federal Aviation Administration. The core of the recommendation calls for a modification to the terrain awareness and warning system requirements established in Technical Standard Order C151. Specifically, the NTSB urges that once alerts are manually inhibited by the pilot, the system must not remain inhibited indefinitely if the pilot does not actively uninhibit them. This measure aims to ensure that safety alerts are restored automatically rather than staying suppressed due to pilot inaction. The recommendation highlights a potential gap in current operational procedures where critical terrain warnings could be permanently disabled without explicit pilot intervention to restore them.